White House formally tells Congress of Soleimani strike under War Powers Act
Democrats decry risk of further Mideast war
The White House delivered a formal notification of the drone strike that killed Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani to Capitol Hill on Saturday, as required under the War Powers Act, according to a senior Democratic aide and another official familiar with the matter.
The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity ahead of the White House’s formal notification to Congress.
The War Powers Act states that when existing U.S. armed forces abroad are “substantially enlarge(d)” without a war declaration, “the President shall submit
within 48 hours ... a report, in writing” to the House Speaker — in this case, Nancy Pelosi, D-California, and to the President pro tempore of the Senate — Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa.
The U.S. is deploying about 2,800 additional soldiers to the Middle East — on top of the 750 from the same unit sent earlier in the week — as tensions with Iran mount.
The report must outline “the circumstances necessitating the introduction of United States Armed Forces; the constitutional and legislative authority under which such introduction took place; and the estimated scope and duration of the hostilities or involvement.”
The public portion of the document is expected to lay out the White House’s legal justification for the strike on Gen. Soleimani, Iran’s top security commander, who officials have said has been behind hundreds of American deaths over the years. It is also expected to include a classified portion, likely detailing the intelligence that led to the action.
Mr. Trump’s advisers have maintained that they were operating on credible intelligence showing that Gen. Soleimani was involved in imminent plans to attack U.S. interests in a handful of countries.
They have not detailed that intelligence, and Democratic lawmakers, among others, have raised questions about its veracity.
While Republicans praised the action against Gen. Soleimani as a definitive blow against a longtime enemy, Democrats voiced concern that the president was risking a new war in the Middle East, and argued that the White House exceeded its legal authority by conducting the strike without explicit authorization from Congress.
Some Democratic lawmakers have already moved to thwart potential military involvement in Iran without congressional approval. Democratic presidential candidate and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., teamed up with California Rep. Ro
Khanna on Friday to file legislation to prevent funding for any military intervention in Iran.
Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine filed a War Powers Authorization that same day that would require any hostilities with Iran to be approved by Congress through a declaration of war or new Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF) — a “privileged” resolution that he can force a debate and vote on, though it’s not clear when that might happen.
Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Jim Risch, an Idaho Republican, told CNN a few hours after speaking to Mr. Trump on Friday that Article II of the Constitution and the War
Powers Act, were presented to him as the legal justification for Gen. Soleimani’s killing.
Article II gives the President the “executive power,” and makes him “commander in chief” of the military, powers that virtually all presidents have interpreted to give them at least some room to use the military without express permission from Congress.
A post-9/11 Office of Legal Counsel opinion from 2002 related to presidential war powers explains the view of broad presidential authority to order military action without any additional legal authority.
“Article II vests in the President, as Chief Executive and Commander in Chief, the constitutional authority to use such military forces as are provided to him by Congress to engage in military hostilities to protect the national interest of the United States. The Constitution nowhere requires for the exercise of such authority the consent of Congress,” it states.
Mr. Trump said on Friday he authorized the strike against the commander of Iran’s security and intelligence services because he was plotting “imminent and sinister attacks” on Americans.
Mr. Trump said Saturday evening the United States has “targeted 52 Iranian sites” for attack should the country strike “any Americans, or American assets.”
“We have ... targeted 52 Iranian sites (representing the 52 American hostages taken by Iran many years ago), some at a very high level & important to Iran” and “if Iran strikes any Americans, or American assets... Iran itself, WILL BE HIT VERY FAST AND VERY HARD,” Mr. Trump wrote in a series of tweets.