Several Democrats Say They Support Trump’s Iran Strikes

Several Democrats on Capitol Hill notably broke with their party and publicly supported President Donald Trump’s strikes on three Iranian nuclear facilities over the weekend, highlighting a divide over how best to respond to the act of aggression.

Most of the party came out strongly against Trump’s decision in the hours following Saturday night’s action, arguing that it puts the U.S. at risk of a protracted war — the exact sort of thing that the president campaigned against.

But there were a few high-profile Democratic defections in the aftermath of the bombings.

Maryland Rep. Steny Hoyer, the former House majority leader, was one of the more notable Democrats to say he supported the action.

“The U.S. strike on Iranian nuclear facilities at Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan yesterday was essential to preventing Iran from developing a nuclear weapon,” Hoyer wrote in a statement.

“Every American president since Jimmy Carter, regardless of party, as well as multiple generations of both Democratic and Republican leadership in Congress, articulated the bipartisan policy that allowing Iran to develop nuclear weapons was unacceptable,” Hoyer added, while simultaneously blasting the first Trump administration for backing out of a previous nuclear deal with Iran in 2018.

How to toe the line on that apparent contradiction — supporting the strikes but not Trump himself — was a theme in some Democrats’ responses to the situation.

Sen. Jacky Rosen of Nevada said that Trump needs to involve Congress before carrying out any further military action. Steve Marcus/AP

Sen. Jacky Rosen of Nevada, who sits on the chamber’s Armed Services Committee, seemingly agreed with the decision to carry out the strikes but added that Trump needs to involve Congress before carrying out any further military action. That view was seemingly shared by Rep. Jared Moskowitz as well.

“The Iranian Regime has made it clear that they will do everything in their power to destroy the United States and Israel, and their nuclear program has been a means to that end. That is why I have never wavered in my firm belief that Iran cannot be allowed to develop or obtain a nuclear weapon,” Rosen wrote. “The President must involve Congress before taking any further U.S. military action against Iran and must respect Congress’s sole constitutional role in the authorization of the use of force.”

Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania was one of the earliest Democratic voices in support of Trump’s actions.

“As I’ve long maintained, this was the correct move by @POTUS,” he posted on X Saturday night. “Iran is the world’s leading sponsor of terrorism and cannot have nuclear capabilities. I’m grateful for and salute the finest military in the world.”

Whether or not Trump had the authority to carry out the strikes unilaterally immediately became a point of contention on Capitol Hill, where House Speaker Mike Johnson said the president “evaluated that the imminent danger outweighed the time it would take for Congress to act.”

“The President fully respects the Article I power of Congress, and tonight’s necessary, limited, and targeted strike follows the history and tradition of similar military actions under presidents of both parties,” he added.

But that was not a sentiment shared by many Democrats. Sen. Mark Kelly, a former naval aviator and astronaut, said he agreed with the goal of the strikes but contested whether Iran’s nuclear program truly was an imminent threat to American lives that required Trump to act without involving Congress.

“I would say when there’s a clear and imminent threat to U.S. citizens, to the United States, to the homeland, the commander in chief has a right to act. That wasn’t the case here,” he said on NBC’s Meet the Press Sunday morning. “I think certainly for the 40,000 troops in at least six countries in the Middle East — we have a lot of the bases in the Middle East — those troops are now at greater risk. I think folks here at home as well are at greater risk. We could see terrorist attacks here. The Iranians still have a lot of proxies. They could go after us. The escalatory factor of this action that was taken yesterday is significant.”

New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez went the furthest, arguing that Trump’s decision to launch strikes on Iran “is absolutely and clearly grounds for impeachment.”

Republicans also had their own defections over the weekend, the loudest of which was Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky. He had proposed a bipartisan war powers resolution last week that would have barred the U.S. military from offensive action against Iran without prior authorization from Congress.

“I think I represent part of the coalition that elected President Trump,” he said on CBS’ Face the Nation Sunday. “We were tired of endless wars in the Middle East and tired of wars in east eastern Europe. And we were promised that we would put our veterans, our immigration policies and our infrastructure first.”

He was joined by a few other defectors in opposing the strikes, including Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Warren Davidson of Ohio.

“While President Trump’s decision may prove just, it’s hard to conceive a rationale that’s Constitutional,” Davidson wrote on X.

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Brett Bachman is a senior editor at NOTUS.