Democrats in Congress castigated the Trump administration Tuesday for postponing scheduled briefings on the U.S. military attack on Iran, calling it unacceptable and evasive.
The House and Senate were set to receive all-member briefings from Trump administration officials, reportedly including National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Dan Caine. But the briefings were postponed until Thursday at the earliest.
“This last-minute postponement of our briefing is outrageous, is evasive and is derelict,” said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, New York Democrat. “They’re bobbing and weaving and ducking. Senators deserve full transparency. There is a legal obligation for the administration to inform Congress about precisely what is happening.”
“What are they afraid of?” he said.
The Senate briefing has been rescheduled until Thursday so Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who are currently attending a NATO summit with President Trump, can attend. It is not clear if the House briefing will take place on the same day.
In a lopsided bipartisan vote Tuesday, the House tabled a Democratic resolution to advance articles of impeachment against Mr. Trump over the military operation. The vote was 344-79.
It was not clear when the rescheduled briefing for House lawmakers would take place.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, Louisiana Republican, said in a social media post that the briefing was postponed due to the “ongoing developments in the Middle East.”
“This decision reflects the need to ensure that Members receive timely and complete information aligned with the current circumstances,” he said.
Later Tuesday, he confirmed the briefing for the House will now be held on Friday
Mr. Johnson also said he was in “active coordination” with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, New York Democrat, to set a new date.
Still, House Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar, California Democrat, said it was “the chaos and the confusion coming out of the White House made [the briefing] impossible.”
“It is completely unacceptable that Congress has not been briefed on this in a timely fashion. We need evidence, we need details and we need to know them now,” he said. “There are a number of outstanding questions, including whether this attack achieved this administration’s stated goals.”
Mr. Trump has said the U.S. bombings “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear facilities.
“Launching an attack without congressional authorization is wrong,” Mr. Aguilar said. “Launching a potentially unsuccessful attack without congressional authorization would be an administration-defining failure.”
Mr. Trump left for NATO early Tuesday, just a day after he announced a ceasefire between Israel and Iran and just hours after the two countries seemed to violate the agreement.
“I think they both violated it. I’m not sure they did it intentionally. They couldn’t rein people back. I don’t like the fact that Israel went out this morning at all, and I’m going to see if I can stop it,” the president told reporters before departing for NATO.
“We basically have two countries that have been fighting so long and so hard that they don’t know what the f—- they’re doing. Do you understand that?” he said.
• Mallory Wilson can be reached at mwilson@washingtontimes.com.