House Democrat leader Hakeem Jeffries has accused President Donald Trump of endangering Americans by lying his way into a new Middle East conflict.
As some senior Democrats push for the president’s impeachment, Jeffries slammed the president for failing to seek Congressional approval before bombing Iran, warning that the U.S. now risks being embroiled in a dangerous and deadly war.
“President Trump misled the country about his intentions, failed to seek congressional authorization for the use of military force, and risks American entanglement in a potentially disastrous war in the Middle East,” Jeffries said in a statement.
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He added: “Donald Trump promised to bring peace to the Middle East. He has failed to deliver on that promise full stop. The risk of war has now dramatically increased, and I pray for the safety of our troops in the region who have been put in harm’s way.”
The comments came after Trump announced he had dropped bombs on three military sites in Iran, joining Israel in its longstanding war in the Middle East.
But many Democrats are furious about the decision, which was taken without Congressional approval. This is required under the U.S. Constitution unless there is a direct or immediate threat to America.
Senator Chris Murphy, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said he had been briefed on the intelligence “and there is no evidence Iran posed an imminent threat to the United States.”
“That makes this attack illegal,” he said.
Former president Joe Biden also took military action without Congressional approval. In 2021, for instance, he directed air strikes on militia facilities in eastern Syria in response to rocket attacks against U.S. targets in Iraq.
He also directed air strikes in Syria in 2023 after an American contractor was killed and five service members were injured in an attack by a drone that the Pentagon claimed was of “Iranian origin.”
However, Biden’s actions were less expansive than those of Trump, who directed the bombing of two major uranium enrichment centers in Iran—the mountain facility at Fordow and another plant at Natanz. A third site near the ancient city of Isfahan was also bombed.
The bombings mark a significant escalation in the ongoing conflict between Iran and Israel, and risks Tehran retaliating by targeting U.S. military assets and troops in the region.
Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said the lack of Congressional approval was “absolutely and clearly grounds for impeachment.”
“The President’s disastrous decision to bomb Iran without authorization is a grave violation of the Constitution and Congressional War Powers. He has impulsively risked launching a war that may ensnare us for generations,” she added.
Her calls were backed up by Congressman Sean Casten from Illinois, who also insisted that these actions were an “unambiguous impeachable offense.”
Senator Chuck Schumer stopped short of calling for impeachment—as did Jeffries—but urged Congress to pass new laws putting additional checks on the president’s power.
“No president should be allowed to unilaterally march this nation into something as consequential as war with erratic threats and no strategy,” he continued.
The Middle East conflict has deeply divided the base that got Trump elected, pitting people such as Fox News host Mark Levin, MAGA acolyte Laura Loomer and South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham on one side, and America First isolationists such as Steve Bannon and Marjorie Taylor Greene on the other.
But announcing his decision tonight, Trump said the objective was “the destruction of Iran’s nuclear enrichment capacity and a stop to the nuclear threat posed by the world’s No. 1 state sponsor of terror.”
The mission was a resounding success, he said, before demanding that Iran return to the negotiating table or face further bombing.
“If they do not, future attacks will be far greater and a lot easier,” he said.
