Black members of Congress condemn Trump’s ‘unconstitutional’ strikes in Iran, demand answers

U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters said she believes President Donald Trump’s airstrikes in Iran are “tantamount to a declaration of war.”

Black members of Congress swiftly condemned President Donald Trump‘s order for the U.S. military to strike Iran, potentially igniting a wider conflict in the Middle East that the U.S. has delicately tried to avoid for several years.

“Donald Trump promised to bring peace to the Middle East. He has failed to deliver that promise,” said U.S. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., the Democratic leader in the U.S. House of Representatives. In a statement released Saturday night, Jeffries said the risk of war “dramatically increased” as a result of the president’s decision. The strike reportedly caused “severe damage” to three of its nuclear sites.

Though Trump and administration officials argue the choice to join Israel’s war against Iran was necessary to, as Trump said, “stop the nuclear threat posed by the world’s number one sponsor of terror,” Democrats remain skeptical and alarmed that the president had not briefed members of Congress nor sought their legislative power to authorize military action.

Jeffries, the first African-American party leader in Congress, demanded that Trump officials “fully and immediately” brief him and his colleagues in a “classified setting” and said, most importantly, “the Trump administration bears the heavy burden of explaining to the American people why this military action was undertaken.”

U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., who has served in Congress for more than 30 years, said she believes Trump’s airstrikes in Iran are “tantamount to a declaration of war.”

“This action by the President is typical of a president out of control. The United States at one time had an agreement with Iran, and that agreement was monitored closely. But Trump withdrew from that agreement when he took office,” said Waters, referring to a deal brokered by former President Barack Obama and other world leaders that restricted Iran’s nuclear development. President Trump withdrew from the nuclear accord during his first term.

Waters called Trump “out of control” and slammed him for going against his previous statements that he would wait two weeks to decide on whether to militarily involve the U.S. in the Israel-Iran conflict.

“This president must be stopped. I and Members of Congress must confront this issue as soon as we return to Congress. We need peaceful negotiations, not another war,” said the senior congresswoman.

U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., who said Trump’s unilateral decision was “unconstitutional and unwise,” described the U.S. attack in Iran as a “rash sequel” to Trump’s withdrawal from Obama’s nuclear deal and that it puts the nation’s military and citizens at “grave risk.”

The U.S. House assistant Democratic leader said that while preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, as the Trump administration claims, is a “noble pursuit,” he urged Congress to have “immediate details” about the military action, which the Trump administration revealed on Sunday as “Operation Midnight Hammer.” Clyburn demanded that all sides of the Middle East conflict “pull back from the brink of a full-scale war.”

U.S. Vice President JD Vance on Sunday said the U.S. was “not at war” with Iran but “at war with its nuclear program.”

“It’s really an incredible operation, a testament to the power of American military, and I think what shows what can happen when you have that great American military in the hands of capable presidential leadership,” Vance told NBC’s “Meet The Press.”

U.S. Senator Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., said ordering military service members into battle is “the gravest of responsibilities for an American president and should never be undertaken lightly.”

The senator pointed to a larger concern among members of Congress that Trump brought the U.S. into another Middle East conflict based on the belief that Iran was building a nuclear weapon–something Trump’s director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, testified before Congress was not the case.

“[Trump] disagrees with the assessment of his own national intelligence advisers, [and] has now entered another Middle East conflict,” said Warnock. “He has not sought congressional approval and has not sufficiently explained why this operation was necessary right now.”

“This is not ‘the art of the deal,'” said Warnock, referring to Trump’s 1987 book, which has been used by Trump and his supporters to tout his business acumen and leadership credibility as president despite critics who say the contrary, pointing to Trump’s bankruptcies and questionable business practices.

Sen. Warnock said thousands of U.S. troops are now “at risk for potential retaliation” from Iran and said the American people “deserve to hear more than they’ve heard so far.” He added, “The constitution requires a much more serious engagement with their representatives.”