Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) called deliberations over Iran “serious” following a Gang of Eight intelligence briefing with Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
“Look, this is serious, and the administration has to make its case to the American people,” Schumer said.
Rubio and CIA Director John Ratcliffe briefed the top lawmakers and intelligence committee members as President Donald Trump considers the possibility of military action against Iran. Just hours before the bicameral legislature will hear directly from Trump in his State of the Union address, the Gang of Eight members spoke briefly on the meeting with Rubio and Ratcliffe.
“They’re giving a lot of thought to the situation. And I appreciate where they’re coming from,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) said, per Punchbowl News.
Thune told Politico that congressional consultation “needs to happen” on Iran and called it “a dangerous country, and very volatile.”
Vice Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Mark Warner (D-VA) echoed Schumer’s words, saying, “It’s an extraordinary and serious time.”
“I think it’s incumbent upon the president to make the case what our country’s goals are and what our countered interests are and how we’re going to protect American interests in the region. Maybe we’ll hear that tonight, but if we don’t hear it tonight, we need to hear it very, very, very soon,” Warner said.
Political pundits expect Trump to address his administration’s foreign policy goals for Iran in Tuesday’s State of the Union address, with questions over what is next for the two countries swirling in the media for weeks.
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Trump posted on Truth Social last night, railing against what he called “fake news” reports that Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Dan Caine has cautioned against reported possible plans to order a military strike to force a deal.
“I am the one that makes the decision, I would rather have a Deal than not but, if we don’t make a Deal, it will be a very bad day for that Country and, very sadly, its people, because they are great and wonderful, and something like this should never have happened to them,” Trump wrote.
