After Wednesday’s so-called briefing on events in Iran, Democrats from both the House and the Senate emerged with complaints about the lack of information, dodging of questions, and misstatements of facts that had passed for an update on a critical situation. Surprisingly, a number of Republicans also joined in the critique, with Republican Sen. Mike Lee calling the briefing the worst he had ever attended.
Since the Republican Party has dumped any principle except allegiance to Donald Trump, other Republicans began to attack Lee for his suggestions that any briefing from this White House was less than a beautiful, inspiring event for the ages. The result was a morning of Republican Twitter pong, as multiple Republicans queued up to prove their loyalty to the Don by attacking those Republicans who dared voice a moment’s lack of satisfaction.
While there seems to be no doubt that in the end Mike Lee will join every other Republican in voting Trump in as God Emperor of Dune, The Washington Post reports that he is still not done complaining about that briefing. According to Lee, it wasn’t as much what the briefing did include as what it didn’t include that was an issue. As in, not only was there no information on the supposed imminent threat that made taking out Iran’s top general seem like a worthwhile risk, but there was also no information on what comes next.
And there was absolutely no hint that Trump would ever come to Congress for approval of anything. Confronted with a series of hypothetical situations, up to and including a decision to assassinate the supreme leader of Iran, the White House refused to make any commitment that Trump would ever check in with Congress. That’s despite the fact that assassinating a national leader doesn’t just violate long-standing executive orders—it also means refusing to recognize Congress’ authority under Article I of the Constitution.
Many members of Congress came away from the briefing upset over the White House’s refusal to release any information concerning the intelligence related to the assassination of Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani. Mike Pence defended that refusal on the basis that Congress couldn’t be trusted with military intelligence—the same military intelligence that has been regularly shared with congressional leadership in the past. That refusal to share information, and the refusal to commit to coming to Congress before an obvious act of war, are both parts of the same whole: Donald Trump’s stated opinion that Article II of the Constitution allows him to do whatever he pleases. And on that point, Republicans have no one to blame but themselves.
What Mike Lee is complaining about is exactly what Democrats have been complaining about in the House and the Senate—the way that Trump has been ignoring the constitutional oversight authority of the Congress. That’s the same authority that Republican leaders on both sides of Capitol Hill, including Mitch McConnell, have been throwing away hand over fist.
The same authority that requires Trump to provide witnesses and documents for his impeachment is the authority that requires him to come to Congress if he wants to levy war. If Republicans believe that Trump can thumb his orange nose at Congress over investigative authority, they should not be surprised when he does the same on military actions.