AOC leads Democrats in calling for Trump's impeachment over Iran strikes
'Squad' member Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez blasted President Trump's decision to bomb Iran without congressional authorization Saturday and called the move grounds for his impeachment.
The New York lawmaker weighed in Saturday night after Trump authorized the use of 'bunker buster' bombs to take out Iran's nuclear facilities, including the Fordow facility believed to contain centrifuges buried deep underground.
She called the attack a violation of the Congressional War Powers Act. Fellow progressive Rep. Ro Khanna of California last week introduced a bipartisan War Powers resolution prohibiting U.S. Armed Forces from engaging in 'unauthorized hostilities' against Iran.
He was joiend by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), a deficit hawk who on Saturday night called Trump's attack on Iran 'unconstitutional.'
Wrote Ocasio-Cortez, a progressive pugilist who has become a top Democratic figure and even a potential presidential contender: '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. It is absolutely and clearly grounds for impeachment.'
Also raising the impeachment threat was Illinois Democratic Rep. Sean Casten.
'This is not about the merits of Iran's nuclear program. No president has the authority to bomb another country that does not pose an imminent threat to the US without the approval of Congress. This is an unambiguous impeachable offense,' he posted Saturday following the attack.
Fumed former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) in a statement: 'Tonight, the President ignored the Constitution by unilaterally engaging our military without congressional authorization. I join my colleagues in demanding answers from the Administration on this operation which endangers American lives and risks further escalation and dangerous destabilization of the region.'
Rep. Al Green of Texas has already filed articles of impeachment against Trump, saying in a statement in May that 'President has devolved American democracy into authoritarianism, with himself as the authoritarian.'
Congressional Democrats twice impeached Trump, once over his efforts seeking to get Ukraine to investigate rival Joe Biden, and once following the January 6 attack on the Capital.
Both were unsuccessful. The Senate voted 57-43 to convict Trump in his second impeachment, short of the needed two-thirds majority.
Trump called both efforts part of the 'witch hunt' against him, and says impeachments and criminal prosecutions of him contributed to his political resurrection.
That makes any actual impeachment effort a potentially risky gambit.
In the current environment, House Republicans hold a narrow House majority, likely dooming any impeachment effort that goes forward. Only a House-passed impeachment resolution gets a Senate trial.
Trump's decision to bomb Iran clashed with some of his campaign rhetoric about avoiding 'forever' wars in the Middle East. He called the second Iraq war 'stupid' and has hammered both parties over the war in Afghanistan, which continued during his first term.
MAGA ally Steve Bannon has been calling to prioritize other issues like mass deportations and warning World War III is underway.
Ocasio Cortez was on hand when June 21 for the return of Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil in New Jersey as he told reporters that he will continue to fight for his country 'even if they kill me.'
Khalil, 30, arrived at Newark Liberty International Airport on Saturday to an eruption of cheers after he was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement for over 100 days.
Ocasio-Cortez spoke at the conference to condemn the Trump administration for 'persecution based on political speech.'
She added that Khalil was unlawfully 'taken' and argued that federal officials acted illegally when detaining the activist.
Article II of the Constitution spells out broad military authority for the president as commander in chief, while Article I exclusively gives Congress the authority to declare war.'
Presidents of both parties have routinely ordered military action without advance authorization by Congress since World War II.
Even lawmakers pushing for adhering to the War Powers Act acknowledge that certain brief or urgent military actions that a president orders need not be governed by it. But AOC and others raised the potential that Trump's strikes could kick off yet another long war that began without authorization.
Trump's comments from the White House Saturday night indicated conflict could either be longer or short, depending on Iran's response.
'There will be either peace or there will be tragedy for Iran far greater than we have witnessed over the last eight days,' Trump said, referencing Israel's attacks on Iran.
President George H.W. Bush got an authorization from Congress before the Persian Gulf War, and his son George W. Bush got authorizations in 2001 and 2002 following the Sept. 11th attacks.
Trump ordered the military to take out Iranian Gen. Qasem Soleimani without congressional authorization, and at the start of his second term ordered strikes against the Houthis in Yemen.
Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), who opposed the Iran nuclear deal under President Barack Obama that Trump scrapped, said Trump must provide 'clear answers' on the attacks and their implications on American safety.
'No president should be allowed to unilaterally march this nation into something as consequential as war with erratic threats and no strategy. Confronting Iran's ruthless campaign of terror, nuclear ambitions, and regional aggression demands strength, resolve, and strategic clarity. The danger of wider, longer, and more devastating war has now dramatically increased,' he said.
'We must enforce the War Powers Act and I'm urging Leader [John] Thune to put it on the Senate floor immediately. I am voting for it and implore all Senators on both sides of the aisle to vote for it.'
Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine, a Democratic Armed Services Committee member, says his resolution requires that any hostilities with Iran must be explicitly authorized by a declaration of war or specific authorization for use of military force, 'but would not prevent the U.S. from defending itself from imminent attack.'
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