| Speaker | Time | Text |
|---|---|---|
|
unidentified
|
Leader Jeffers, what's your level of concern that this conflict could escalate and other countries, more powerful countries, could get involved? | |
| The approach that was taken by President Barack Obama, which I strongly supported, to prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear-capable power, which is a goal that all of us should share, and I do, is aggressive diplomacy. | ||
| When President Obama entered into discussions to try to secure a nuclear agreement to prevent Iran from becoming capable of developing a nuclear weapon, it was a discussion that involved diplomacy from the United States, Great Britain, France, Germany, Russia, and China, | ||
| all at the table, entering into an agreement that took Iran's capacity from racing to a nuclear weapon from inside of three months, which is where it was at the time, to outside of a year. | ||
| Everyone agreed that Iran was complying with the agreement that had been reached, which had its flaws, but was working as it had intended to significantly push back Iran's capacity to break out and develop a nuclear weapon. | ||
| Donald Trump comes into office, and because he's such a hater, particularly as it relates to all things Barack Obama, he pulls out of the agreement, | ||
| even though Donald Trump's own administration, his own national security apparatus, his own Department of Defense confirmed repeatedly that Iran was adhering to the agreement when Barack Obama was president and when Donald Trump was president the first time. | ||
| Donald Trump pulls out and set this whole situation that we're in right now into motion. | ||
| On Friday, Donald Trump says, we're going to allow for the next two weeks to occur so that we can pursue a diplomatic resolution. | ||
| He lied to the American people, turned around, and, without congressional authorization, launched an attack that does risk the possibility of further United States entanglement. | ||
| That will cost us trillions of dollars and thousands of lives if it goes the way of the failed war in Iraq and the challenges that we had over a 20 year period of time in Afghanistan, | ||
| notwithstanding the fact that our involvement in Afghanistan was clearly justified because we had to take out al Qaeda and the Taliban. | ||
| who were housing them. | ||
| These Middle Eastern situations are rough situations. | ||
| The American people see this clearly, which is why one can't just simply unilaterally decide to potentially entangle us in another conflict. | ||
| It's the purpose of the constitutional provision. | ||
| I think Article 1, Section 8, Clause 11, if I'm wrong, someone will point that out immediately. | ||
| There's a reason for it. | ||
| And Donald Trump chose to abandon it. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thanks. | |
| Thank you. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Leader. | ||
| House Republicans, including Derek Jam Gordon and Byron Donalds, have suggested that the Trump administration was justified in not providing the briefings that you've asked for because the information would be leaked. | ||
| They say that members would leak to the press and that the Trump administration was correct to keep this information secret. | ||
| What's your response to these Republicans who say that you all would have leaked the information, classified information, had you received it in the manner that you requested? | ||
| The Trump administration can't point to a single example of a gang of eight briefing being disclosed to the American people in a manner that would have created harm to the United States of America. | ||
| I challenge them, point to a single example of a gang of eight briefing over the last several administrations resulting in information that was classified becoming public. | ||
| What is the administration hiding? | ||
| And by the way, the strike has already occurred. | ||
| On Saturday, at the highest levels, respectfully request of the White House to provide an immediate Gang of Eight briefing. | ||
| And it still hasn't happened. | ||
| This is after the strike has occurred. | ||
| Come up to Capitol Hill and justify your actions. | ||
| Justify the fact that you may be taking us to a war that your own people in the MAGA verse don't want. | ||
| Your own people. | ||
| And you have a responsibility to explain that to the American people. | ||
| And so far, they failed to do it, even at the highest levels of congressional leadership. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Throughout the last 20 years, presidents have consistently used sort of unilateral executive authorities to counter strikes like this, including President Biden against the Houthis, President Obama in Libya. | |
| What makes this moment different? | ||
| The question is, what was the imminent threat to the United States of America? | ||
| And there's been no evidence to present an imminent threat. | ||
| Now, if the administration believes that it existed, then they have an opportunity to present that to the American people and to Congress as the elected representatives of the American people. | ||
| Up until this point, they've not provided any evidence of an imminent threat. | ||
| The only suggestion has been that we can't allow Iran to become nuclear capable. | ||
| We agree. | ||
| That's been a consistent position of Democrats and Republicans for decades. | ||
| And the question is, what justified this particular action and was it even successful in completely and totally obliterating Iran's nuclear program as was represented by Donald Trump to the American people? | ||
| Did Donald Trump tell the truth or is he lying again? | ||
| Last question. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Senator Jeffries, one, have you spoken with other officials back home in New York City about the potential harm that could come to the area with these latest strikes from Iran? | |
| And then I also just want to get your thoughts on the latest polling as the New York City mayor race is set to start off there. | ||
| There's a high degree of concern as it relates to just the climate of political violence that exists, and that's something that we need to decisively deal with here on Capitol Hill. | ||
| This should not be a Democratic or Republican issue. | ||
| Every single member of the House and the Senate should be able to do their job free of the threat of political violence to themselves and to their families. | ||
| And that's going to require the House taking decisive steps in terms of increasing the resources available to keep members of Congress safe so we can actually effectively represent the American people regardless of party affiliation or political ideology. | ||
| In terms of specific threats, I'm confident that the NYPD, the police commissioner, working with the leadership in New York City and New York State, you know, they're taking appropriate steps to keep everybody safe, particularly areas that are sensitive in terms of the potential to be targets, whether those are houses of worship, synagogues, shules, mosques, | ||
| or other affiliated religious institutions during a time of great challenge. | ||
| In terms of the mayor's race, it's going to be close, it appears. | ||
| And I've said this is in the hands of the people of New York City, and we'll see what the outcome is. | ||
| But I think at this moment in time, no one can credibly predict who the winner will be until all votes have been cast. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Last minute endorsement? | |
| I'm going to pass on that one. | ||
| Thank you all. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Today in the House, members are considering several bills, including a measure which seeks to improve the review process of foreign purchases of U.S. farmland and agricultural businesses. | |
| Also, legislation requiring the U.S. to support and advocate for Taiwan's membership in the International Monetary Fund. | ||
| Later this week, lawmakers will take up a bill reducing undocumented immigrants in the country, including deporting non-citizens who've been convicted or admitted to driving drunk. | ||
| Members will also consider funding for military construction projects and the Veterans Affairs Department as the first of 12 federal spending bills for 2026. | ||
| Watch live coverage of the U.S. House when lawmakers return here on C-SPAN. | ||
| Paul Rykoff joins us now. | ||
| He's a former Army Infantry Officer, founder, and CEO of Independent Veterans of America, host of the Independent Americans podcast. | ||
| And Paul Rykoff, when we all found out the U.S. planes had bombed Iran on Saturday night, you posted this on your ex feed. | ||
| First commit the country, then commit the troops. | ||
| He, President Trump, didn't do that, and that's a recipe for challenges. | ||
|
unidentified
|
What do you mean by that? | |
| Well, that's an old adage that I think is true, especially in times like this where the president hasn't had a conversation with Congress or really the American people. | ||
| I'm somebody who served in Iraq. | ||
| We can all remember times like Vietnam. | ||
| And I think what we need most of all to remember is that our sons and daughters, young men and women in uniform, are in harm's way. | ||
| And anytime you commit them in harm's way, I would argue whether it's for strikes in Iran or even deploying them into the streets of Los Angeles, you need to get the country behind them. | ||
| You need to talk to the American people. | ||
| You need to try to get bipartisan support because when things drag on, if they go sideways, or even if they go well, you want the country behind those young men and women. | ||
| And when they're not, that creates a very divisive, very politicized environment. | ||
| And that's what we had before these Iran strikes even happened, with the deployment of National Guard troops in an unprecedented way into California, with the activation now of the Marines in California, active duty in three other states. | ||
| Trump has been blowing through the guardrails of the norms, of how the president is supposed to have an open and honest conversation with the American people before we go to conflict, war, whatever they want to call it. | ||
| And that hasn't happened here. | ||
| And I think over time in American history and over multiple military engagements, it doesn't turn out well often. | ||
| Setting Los Angeles aside for a second, what does the War Powers Act mean for President Trump and Iran? | ||
| I think we're going to find out. | ||
| I mean, this is another area of deep water that we haven't been in before. | ||
| I mean, again, if I were counseling the president, if I had my drothers, the conversation that he had after the strike, where he laid out what was the threat in his view, what the plan was, what the next steps were, that should have happened beforehand. | ||
| He could have also counseled with the Gang of Eight, brought in a bipartisan group of leaders in Congress to lay out at least the scope of what he was considering. | ||
| Of course, you don't have to share operational details and secure information, but having that conversation up front, I think, would have set him and others up for success. | ||
| But this is our new normal, especially after 9-11. | ||
| I'm coming to you from New York, where just a couple blocks away I was activated for 9-11 at ground zero. | ||
| After 9-11, you know, we got sent to Afghanistan, we got sent to Iraq, and there was no declaration of war. | ||
| There was no formal conversation and commitment on behalf of the Congress and the American people, as I believe the Constitution and our country was intended. | ||
| So it's become, unfortunately, I think, a new normal after 9-11 with the expanded use of the AUMF, with engagements around the world. | ||
| The country's kind of gotten used to forever war. | ||
| And while folks may be tuning out at times over the last decade or so, our men and women have been continuing to be in conflict. | ||
| There have been strikes by the Houthis. | ||
| There are other engagements in other countries around the world. | ||
| And frankly, most Americans don't even know they're happening. | ||
| So every time we have an engagement like this, a high-emotion strike point, I think it's an important point for Americans of all backgrounds to reflect and talk about how we engage in conflict and how we can do a better job of it and how we can be more transparent with the American people. | ||
| You say this is the new normal. | ||
| Does Congress want this responsibility? | ||
| Does Congress, there's been obviously individual members who have been very vocal saying that they want this responsibility, that the president has to come to them and seek authorization. | ||
| But do you think the majority of the 535 members of the House and Senate want this on their heads? | ||
| Yeah, it's on all of them. | ||
| I mean, what's interesting is the pushes recently to repeal the AUMF have come from bipartisan post-9-11 veterans, you know, folks who served in my time who said, you know, this has gone on for too long. | ||
| Congress has abdicated their responsibility. | ||
| They're derelict in their duty. | ||
| They need to step in here. | ||
| And I would argue, you know, no matter what party you're from, or if you're an independent like me and most Americans at this point, you have a duty as an elected leader to flex the power of Congress, to hold the president accountable, to have a conversation, and most of all, to represent your constituents. | ||
| Some folks watching right now may support this action. | ||
| Many don't, but their elected leaders didn't even get a say. | ||
| And when the president circumvents Congress and Congress abdicates that responsibility, that's not only bad for our democracy, it's bad for our military. | ||
| It's bad for our men and women in uniform. | ||
| It's bad for our allies. | ||
| It's bad for our international standing. | ||
| And we are coming into this Monday, John, with some very, very deep waters. | ||
| We think it can't get deeper, but almost every day we've got a new national security issue that is unprecedented and drags us into deeper and more unprecedented waters. | ||
| Stepping down from war powers, as a military guy, what was your reaction strictly to the tactical, the strategic objectives here? | ||
| As we learn about this mission, what were your takeaways? | ||
| I mean, as a military person myself, my thoughts are always with the men and women in uniform conducting this operation. | ||
| I'm thinking about the pilots that were in the air for 36 hours, which is an incredible feat. | ||
| Obviously, this is a unique opportunity to test the B-2 platform and find out what the capability of that is. | ||
| And I also thought about the 40,000 troops in the region, because once an engagement like this happens, we know that the threat level is raised. | ||
| The threat level here at home is also now raised. | ||
| So I think about it holistically. | ||
| I think about my friends who are still serving right now. | ||
| I think about my friends who served over the last 20 years. | ||
| And I am frustrated, I think most of all, John, by the lack of transparency. | ||
| The Pentagon hadn't done a press conference in months prior to this. | ||
| We finally got one yesterday at 8 a.m. with the chairman of the Joint Chiefs and the SECDAF, but they weren't doing weekly press conferences. | ||
| They weren't keeping the American people updated. | ||
| So there's a lack of trust there. | ||
| And I think that's understandable. | ||
| You know, Americans have a right to question their authorities, especially when they're sending men and women into harm's way. | ||
| And now we're into that period where we don't know. | ||
| We don't know how effective the strikes are. | ||
| We don't know what happens next. | ||
| And Trump has got to play catch up here. | ||
| I hope he'll play catch-up and try to engage the American people and Congress in a conversation about what actually happened and what's next. | ||
| Tactics and strategy, Jeffrey Lewis posted on his XFeed, a professor of former State Department. | ||
| He writes an extended post or some 17 different posts, but this is how he starts it. | ||
| Why am I so unimpressed by these strikes? | ||
| Israel and the U.S. have failed to target significant elements of Iran's nuclear materials and production infrastructure. | ||
| He says Rising Lion and Midnight Hammer are tactically brilliant, but may turn out to be strategic failures. | ||
| Would you agree? | ||
| I think we'll see. | ||
| I think what we don't know is if this operation was successful, if it was the right thing to do. |