Lawmakers are currently on a scheduled recess but are weighing in on President Trump’s rhetoric on Iran.
Zayrha Roodriguez/NPR
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Zayrha Roodriguez/NPR
Democratic lawmakers in Congress are decrying President Trump’s threats against Iran as extreme. Lawmakers remain out of Washington on a previously scheduled recess. Still, more than three dozen Democrats have called for Trump to be removed from office, while most Congressional Republicans have not made public comments.
The few Republicans who weighed in on the war Tuesday were near-uniformly supportive of the president’s approach while not directly addressing his call for the total elimination of the Iranian civilization.
Trump issued an ultimatum for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz — a key energy transport route — and agree to other terms to end the U.S.-Israeli bombing campaign by 8 p.m. Tuesday in Washington. Trump followed that threat with several posts online including a further escalation on Truth Social Tuesday morning:
“A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will. However, now that we have Complete and Total Regime Change, where different, smarter, and less radicalized minds prevail, maybe something revolutionarily wonderful can happen, WHO KNOWS? We will find out tonight, one of the most important moments in the long and complex history of the World. 47 years of extortion, corruption, and death, will finally end. God Bless the Great People of Iran!”
Here is how Congressional leaders are reacting.
Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., on behalf of House Democratic leadership:
“Donald Trump is completely unhinged. His statement threatening to eradicate an entire civilization shocks the conscience and requires a decisive congressional response. The House must come back into session immediately and vote to end this reckless war of choice in the Middle East before Donald Trump plunges our country into World War III.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.:
“This is an extremely sick person,” Schumer wrote on X. “Each Republican who refuses to join us in voting against this wanton war of choice owns every consequence of whatever the hell this is.”
The Senate Republicans‘ X account shared Schumer’s message, adding “The Iranian regime is responsible for the deaths of thousands of Americans and is the largest state sponsor of terrorism. Senate Democrats would rather appease these terrorists than hold them accountable. It’s about time we had a President willing to defend Americans.”
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., have not reacted publicly to the president’s post and did not immediately return a request for comment from NPR. This story will be updated with a response if one becomes available.
How Republicans are reacting
Most Republicans have stayed silent.
Rep. Dan Meuser, R-Penn., didn’t address the president’s post directly in an appearance on Fox Business, but defended his approach to the war. “It is a historic moment, very historic” he said of Tuesday’s deadline, ” because they’ve been a terrorist state for the last forty seven years … so that’s what’s required.”
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., wrote that the president “earnestly seeks a diplomatic solution” and that Trump “understands how to deal with the toughest of people.”
“After rejecting diplomacy countless times, threatening America and our allies, and destabilizing the region, the path forward is clear,” Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Texas, wrote on X, “deter aggression, defend our interests, and lead with strength and purpose.”
His colleague in the Texas delegation, Nathaniel Moran, was one of the lone GOP voices to condemn the message. Moran said the U.S. must always be ready to use overwhelming military force to defend its interests, but he took exception to the president’s threat to end the whole Iranian civilization.
“How we protect the lives of the innocent is just as important as how we engage the enemy,” Moran wrote. “America is great because America is good.”
Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, one of a handful of GOP senators to vote to convict Trump on an impeachment charge in 2021, called the president’s threat “an affront to the ideals our nation has sought to uphold and promote around the world for nearly 250 years.”
“It undermines our long-standing role as a global beacon of freedom and directly endangers Americans both abroad and at home,” she wrote.
Marjorie Taylor Greene, a past Trump ally and former House member from Georgia who has recently been critical of his involvement in Iran, called for the president to be removed from office, saying the president’s threat was “evil and madness.”
Some Democrats are calling for the president’s removal — or another war powers vote
Since Trump’s Truth Social post at 8 a.m. Tuesday morning, Democrats have released more than one hundred statements, many characterizing the president’s threat as a potential war crime and describing his proposal as genocide.
Many called for Congress to end the recess and reconvene immediately to vote on ending the war or begin removal proceedings. With Republicans in control of the schedule in both chambers, it is all but certain that neither will happen.
“Trump is threatening to commit massive war crimes against the Iranian people starting at 8 pm tonight,” Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland wrote. “Congress should reconvene immediately and vote to end this war, NOW.”
“The occupant of the White House is openly threatening genocide,” Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., wrote. “Congress must stop this war and Trump must be removed from office.”
Former Congressional Progressive Caucus chairperson, Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington, called for the president to be removed from office — as did more than three dozen of her Democratic colleagues.
