Trump's Republicans defend Iran strikes as Democrats push for war powers vote

U.S. President Donald Trump's Republicans insisted on Monday that the attack on Iran was fully within his authority as commander in chief, while Democrats said the administration has not made its case and planned a war powers vote this week.



Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, CIA Director John Ratcliffe and General Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff briefed congressional leaders about the strikes on Iran, two days after Israeli and U.S. forces began bombing the Islamic state.



Going into the briefing, Rubio told reporters that there was an imminent threat to the United States because the U.S. knew that Israel planned to attack Iran and expected Iran to retaliate by attacking U.S. forces.



Republican lawmakers said that led to the "imminent threat" that forced the U.S. to respond.



"Because Israel was determined to act with or without the U.S., our commander in chief and the administration ... had a very difficult decision to make," House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters after the classified briefing.



Democrats argued that the U.S. Constitution gives Congress, not the president, the sole right to declare war and that Trump should not have embarked on what he said could be a weeks-long campaign without lawmakers' approval.