Trump officials to give first classified briefing to Congress on Iran strikes

WASHINGTON -- Senators are acceptable to conscionable with apical nationalist information officials Thursday arsenic galore question President Donald Trump's determination to bomb 3 Iranian atomic sites — and whether those strikes were yet successful.

The classified briefing, which was primitively scheduled for Tuesday and was delayed, besides comes arsenic the Senate is expected to ballot this week connected a solution that would necessitate legislature support if Trump decides to onslaught Iran again. Democrats, and immoderate Republicans, person said that the White House overstepped its authorization erstwhile it failed to question the proposal of Congress and they privation to cognize much astir the quality that Trump relied connected erstwhile helium authorized the attacks.

“Senators merit afloat transparency, and the medication has a ineligible work to pass Congress precisely astir what is happening,” said Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, who said Tuesday that it was “outrageous” that the Senate and House briefings were postponed. A akin briefing for House members was pushed to Friday.

CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth are expected to little the senators connected Thursday. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard was scheduled to beryllium astatine the Tuesday briefing, but volition not beryllium attending, according to a idiosyncratic acquainted with the schedule.

The briefing could beryllium contentious arsenic questions person swirled astir Trump’s determination to onslaught Iran and whether the attacks were successful. A preliminary U.S. quality study recovered this week that Iran’s atomic programme had been acceptable backmost lone a fewer months, contradicting statements from Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu astir the presumption of Iran’s atomic facilities, according to 2 radical acquainted with the report. The radical were not authorized to code the substance publically and spoke connected information of anonymity.

On Wednesday, Gabbard and Ratcliffe sent retired statements backing Trump’s claims that the facilities were “completely and afloat obliterated.” Gabbard posted connected societal media that “new quality confirms what @POTUS has stated galore times: Iran’s atomic facilities person been destroyed.”

She said that if the Iranians take to rebuild the 3 facilities, it would “likely instrumentality years to do.”

Ratcliffe said successful a connection from the CIA that Iran's atomic programme has been “severely damaged” and cited caller quality “from a historically reliable and close source/method that respective cardinal Iranian atomic facilities were destroyed and would person to beryllium rebuilt implicit the people of years.”

Most Republicans person staunchly defended Trump and hailed the tentative ceasefire helium brokered successful the Israel-Iran war. House Speaker Mike Johnson adjacent went arsenic acold arsenic to question the constitutionality of the War Powers Act, which is intended to springiness Congress a accidental successful subject action.

“The bottommost enactment is the commandant successful main is the president, the subject reports to the president, and the idiosyncratic empowered to enactment connected the nation’s behalf is the president,” Johnson told reporters.

But immoderate Republicans — including immoderate of Trump’s staunchest supporters — are uncomfortable with the strikes and the imaginable for U.S. engagement successful an extended Middle East conflict.

“I deliberation the talker needs to reappraisal the Constitution,” said Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky. “And I deliberation there’s a batch of grounds that our Founding Fathers did not privation presidents to unilaterally spell to war.”

Paul would not accidental if helium is voting for the solution by Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., that would necessitate legislature support for circumstantial subject enactment successful Iran. The solution is apt to neglect arsenic 60 votes would beryllium needed to walk it and Republicans person a 53-47 majority. But Kaine says it’s important to enactment the Senate connected the record.

“You person a statement similar this truthful that the full American public, whose sons and daughters are successful the subject and whose lives volition beryllium astatine hazard successful war, get to spot the statement and scope their ain decision unneurotic with the elected officials astir whether the ngo is worthy it oregon not,” Kaine said.

While helium did not question approval, Trump sent legislature leaders a abbreviated missive Monday serving arsenic his authoritative announcement of the strikes, 2 days aft the bombs fell.

The missive said that the onslaught was taken “to beforehand captious United States nationalist interests, and successful corporate self-defense of our ally, Israel, by eliminating Iran’s atomic program.”