| Speaker | Time | Text |
|---|---|---|
|
unidentified
|
Play C-SPAN Radio. | |
| Hear our live call-in program, Washington Journal, daily at 7 a.m. Eastern. | ||
| Listen to House and Senate proceedings, committee hearings, news conferences, and other public affairs events live throughout the day. | ||
| And for the best way to hear what's happening in Washington with fast-paced reports, live interviews, and analysis of the day. | ||
| Catch Washington today, weekdays at 5 p.m. and 9 p.m. Eastern. | ||
| Listen to C-SPAN programs on C-SPAN Radio anytime, anywhere. | ||
| C-SPAN, Democracy Unfiltered. | ||
| This morning, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will be on Capitol Hill to discuss his agency's 2026 budget request. | ||
| From the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health, watch the hearing live at 10 a.m. Eastern on C-SPAN 3. | ||
| C-SPAN now, our free mobile video app, or online at c-SPAN.org. | ||
| House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries held a briefing with reporters where he reacted to the U.S. military strikes against Iran. | ||
| He also criticized the Republicans' tax and spending cuts legislation, which is awaiting approval in the Senate. | ||
| From Capitol Hill, this is about 25 minutes. | ||
| Okay, great. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| Heads up. | ||
| Good afternoon, everyone. | ||
| Trump administration continues to unleash chaos, cruelty, and corruption on the American people. | ||
| Donald Trump and Extreme MAGA Republicans have been a complete and total failure domestically and internationally. | ||
| Donald Trump promised that on day one of his presidency, he would end the war in Ukraine. | ||
| He promised on day one of his presidency, he would free the hostages to bring about peace in the Middle East. | ||
| And Donald Trump promised that on day one of his presidency, costs would go down in the United States of America. | ||
| None of it has happened. | ||
| Instead, costs in the United States of America aren't going down, they're going up. | ||
| Donald Trump and Extreme MAGA Republicans are crashing the economy in real time and driving us toward a possible recession. | ||
| Donald Trump and House Republicans have not done a single thing to lower the high cost of living in the United States of America. | ||
| Not a single thing. | ||
| Instead, Republicans are trying to jam this one big, ugly bill down the throats of the American people. | ||
| The GOP tax scam represents the largest cut to Medicaid in American history. | ||
| It's an all-out assault on the health care of the American people. | ||
| Children, families, people with disabilities, seniors, veterans will all be hurt by the GOP tax scam. | ||
| Premiums, co-pays, and deductibles will go up for tens of millions of Americans. | ||
| Hospitals will close, nursing homes will shut down, community-based health clinics will be unable to operate, and because more than 16 or so million people in America will lose their health care, people in this country will die. | ||
| That's what Republican governance has brought to the United States of America. | ||
| The GOP tax scam will also cut nutritional assistance from the American people. | ||
| Children and seniors and older Americans will literally have food ripped away from them. | ||
| And this all-out assault on health care, this all-out assault on nutritional assistance is being done by Republicans so they can provide their billionaire donors with massive tax breaks that they don't need and don't deserve. | ||
| The one big, ugly Republican bill will hurt everyday Americans in order to reward billionaires. | ||
| At the same time, Donald Trump and his actions, which do not appear to be consistent with the United States Constitution, takes unilateral offensive military action without seeking the approval of the United States Congress. | ||
| The use of military force, which is offensive in nature, must be approved by the House and the Senate. | ||
| That's according to the Constitution. | ||
| It's not optional, Donald. | ||
| It's not. | ||
| The framers of the Constitution actually gave Congress the power to declare war for a reason. | ||
| So the American people, through their elected representatives, would have the opportunity to debate the issue and make some decisions as it relates to what's in the best interest and the national security of the American people. | ||
| Donald Trump and the administration chose to ignore the Constitution. | ||
| And so they're going to have to come before Congress and explain their justification for an offensive military strike against Iran. | ||
| Yes, we can never allow Iran to become a nuclear power. | ||
| And of course Israel has the right to defend itself and will support Israel's security in an ironclad manner. | ||
| But the Trump administration intentionally decided to ignore the aggressive diplomacy that was available to it to try to address the Iranian nuclear threat and ignore the requirements of the Constitution. | ||
| And now they've got to explain why. | ||
| And we expect that justification. | ||
| Not just the classified briefing behind closed doors tomorrow, but we expect them to explain to the American people the basis of the strike. | ||
| What were the results in terms of actually thwarting Iran's capacity to become a nuclear power? | ||
| And what are the Trump administration plans to avoid another potentially disastrous war in the Middle East where thousands of American lives are potentially at risk? | ||
| What is your plan to avoid another foreign war? | ||
| A promise you made, a promise that Donald Trump made to the American people last year. | ||
| And just like every other major promise that he made on a campaign trail, he's failed to keep it. | ||
| Questions? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Mr. Leader Jefferson. | |
| You've been very Jeffrey's. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| I know you just said it's not optional to use military force without consulting Congress, but what is your specific reaction to this afternoon's retaliatory strikes? | ||
| Also, were you briefed this morning about the potential for retaliation? | ||
| And lastly, have you been given any updated intelligence assessment about what damage may or may not have occurred from Saturday's strikes? | ||
| On Saturday at the highest levels, I communicated to the White House that it was my expectation that we would have a gang of eight classified briefing immediately to discuss the military strike on Iran, | ||
| the potential for retaliation, as well as to probe the basis and justification for the offensive military action and to understand the damage that was actually done and whether reports are accurate that Iran may have moved significant amounts of their enriched uranium in advance of the strike, | ||
| which would effectively allow them to remain in a position to become a nuclear power. | ||
| That gang of eight briefing has not taken place. | ||
| So the question is, why not? | ||
| What is the administration hiding from the elected representatives of the United States Congress if they're willing to stand behind their actions? | ||
| Now, our thoughts, prayers, and our full support will continue to be behind the members of the United States military who are in harm's way throughout the Middle East. | ||
| That's unwavering and unequivocal support for our service men and women in the military throughout the Middle East. | ||
| That is different than making sure that the Trump administration in a democracy follows the law, follows the Constitution, and does what's in the best interest of the national security of the American people. | ||
| Leader Jefferies. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thanks. | |
| Back row. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Leader Jeffries, would you support the Rokana War Powers Resolution? | |
| I haven't taken a look at it. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Speaker Johnson just said that now is not the, quote, appropriate time for that resolution. | |
| What's your response? | ||
| And also, do you expect to receive another briefing from the White House? | ||
| What have they told you? | ||
| We haven't gotten an initial briefing from the White House. | ||
| All we received from the White House was a so-called courtesy call with no explanation as to the rationale for the decision that was taken that could have serious consequences for the American people. | ||
| I asked for a Gang of Eight briefing. | ||
| It has yet to occur. | ||
| And it's not clear to me what the administration is hiding from the Congress and from the American people. | ||
| If they have a case to make, come up to Capitol Hill and make it. | ||
| In terms of the War Powers Act resolutions, because House Republicans changed the rules in this Congress, those resolutions would ordinarily be required to be presented for an up or down vote. within 48 hours because they were privileged in nature. | ||
| For some reason, House Republicans don't want to have a full and comprehensive and swift debate on the War Powers Act issue before the American people. | ||
| So they've changed the rules such that the resolutions aren't even eligible for a debate on the House floor until several weeks from now. | ||
| That's outrageous. | ||
| And House Republican leaders are going to have to explain that to their own base, which also does not want to see another dangerous, potentially disastrous Middle Eastern war. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Mr. Leader Jeff, you've seen very clear in your position that Congress should have authorized, that military action should have been authorized through Congress. | |
| If the Commander-in-Chief had sought congressional approval here, would you have given it to him? | ||
| We've seen no evidence to date that an offensive strike of this nature was justified under the War Powers Act or the Constitution. | ||
| But the whole reason for the Trump administration to undertake that process is to come up to Capitol Hill and convince the American people and their elected representatives in the House and in the Senate. | ||
| That hasn't happened. | ||
| And what I can say is not a scintilla of evidence to date has been presented that I have seen to justify the notion that there was an imminent threat to the United States of America. | ||
| If the administration has evidence to the contrary, come up to present it. | ||
| We're not hard to find. | ||
| I'm not hiding. | ||
| And we've asked for a gang of eight briefing. | ||
| Tomorrow, there will be an opportunity for every single member of the House to hear the information from the administration, and hopefully they will present it in a manner that's comprehensive. | ||
| will be probed, it will be tested, it will be aggressively pushed back against, and then we'll see what the outcome is after that classified briefing. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Until this point, what is your estimation of Iran has been to obtaining a nuclear weapon? | |
| That's a question that the administration is going to have to provide to us and to the American people. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Mr. Leader. | |
| Thanks. | ||
| Coming back. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yeah, Leader Jeffries, you clearly think President Trump's actions here were unconstitutional. | |
| So what are you and other Democrats going to do to hold him accountable if not a vote on the war powers resolution? | ||
| I clearly think that there's no basis that I've seen to justify his actions that involved in running the United States Congress. | ||
| The Trump administration will have an ability to try to convince members of Congress on both sides of the aisle that it was a justified action and ultimately convince the American people. | ||
| And that will begin tomorrow, and we'll see what happens from there. | ||
| There's no evidence that I have seen to justify the military strike that took place in the absence of securing congressional approval. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Leader John Richard. | |
| Thank you for taking my question. | ||
| There are some members in your conference that have suggested impeaching President Trump over these Iranian strikes. | ||
| Impeachment has come up, not just from AOC, but other members. | ||
| Is that a tool on the table for you if you were to take back the House? | ||
| I think what's on the tool, a tool that's on the table right now, is to continue to demand that the administration present itself before the United States Congress and make the case to the American people as to why this extraordinary step has been taken. | ||
| That's step one. | ||
| Step two is for the war powers resolution, whether that's the one that has already been introduced or others that may subsequently be introduced, for those resolutions to be debated on the House floor as should have occurred already. | ||
| And then we'll see where we're at thereafter. | ||
|
unidentified
|
So you're not taking any calls for impeachment seriously right now? | |
| But this is a dangerous moment that we're in, and we've got to get through what's in front of us. | ||
| And what's in front of us right now is the Trump administration to come to Congress, justify its actions, for which we've seen no evidence to justify its offensive strike in Iran. | ||
| And we also don't even know how effective the strike has been. | ||
| There's zero evidence that I've seen that the nuclear program was completely and totally obliterated as Donald Trump has claimed. | ||
| No evidence that has been presented to Congress to suggest that that has occurred. | ||
| Let's see what happens at the classified briefing tomorrow. | ||
| Thanks. | ||
| Second bro? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thanks for taking my question, Leader Jeffries. | |
| 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. | ||
| Thanks. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you. | |
| Thank you, Mr. Leader. | ||
| House Republicans, including Derek James 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. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Even at the highest levels of congressional leadership Throughout the last 20 years, presidents have consistently used sort of unilateral executive authorities to counter strikes like this, including President Biden and Sahuti's, President Obama, and 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
|
Look at 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
|
C-SPAN's Washington Journal, a live forum inviting you to discuss the latest issues in government, politics, and public policy from Washington, D.C. to across the country. | |
| Coming up this morning, we'll talk about the expected Senate action on the President's One Big Beautiful bill and the congressional reaction to the U.S. military action against Iran with Punch Bowl News senior congressional reporter Andrew Desiderio. | ||
| And then we'll continue that conversation with Virginia Republican Representative Jennifer Kiggins, member of the Armed Services and Veterans Affairs Committees. | ||
| And then former U.S. Ambassador to NATO Kurt Volcker discusses this week's NATO summit and the latest on the Israel-Iran and Russia-Ukraine conflicts. | ||
| Also, Spectrum News New York One political reporter Ayanna Harry previews tonight's New York City mayoral primary. | ||
| C-SPAN's Washington Journal. | ||
| Join the conversation live at 7 Eastern this morning on C-SPAN, C-SPAN Now, our free mobile app, or online at c-SPAN.org. | ||
| Live today on the C-SPAN networks at 10 a.m. Eastern on C-SPAN, the House returns for general speeches. | ||
| Then at 12, lawmakers will consider a resolution condemning the recent attacks on Minnesota state lawmakers and calling for unity and an end to political violence in the U.S. They'll also work on a military construction and veterans affairs bill. | ||
| On C-SPAN 2, live at 10, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell testifies before the House Financial Services Committee on interest rates and the economy. | ||
| And the Senate returns live at 2.15 to consider President Trump's nominees for top positions at the Commerce, Defense, and Treasury Departments, including Daniel Zimmerman to be an Assistant Secretary of Defense. | ||
| And in the evening, live primary election night coverage of the Democratic nominees running to be the next mayor of New York City. | ||
| Former Governor Andrew Cuomo and Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani are currently the frontrunners in the race of more than a dozen candidates. | ||
| Watch live coverage at 9 p.m. Eastern on C-SPAN 2. |