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'Bananas': Dems fume as Trump freezes Congress out
WASHINGTON — Pro-Israel Democrats fear the Trump administration is squandering what little goodwill remains with moderate Democrats on Capitol Hill by postponing congressional briefings on this weekend’s military strikes in Iran.
“I don't think it's a smart move. Members want to get a sense of what the administration’s thinking,” Rep. Ami Bera (D-CA), a member of the House Intelligence Committee, told Raw Story. “If this was successful, it's probably good for the president, so there's no reason not to do it.”
While progressive Democrats, like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), have decried the military strikes as “clearly grounds for impeachment," many in the moderate wing of the party are looking for a way to back Israel in the conflict, which they say only got more complicated since the administration delayed briefing Congress on the strikes.
“I don’t know what to make of it,” Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) told Raw Story. “Maybe they're hiding.”
Even if the Trump administration wasn’t hiding, many Democrats feel they are.
Confusion on Capitol Hill
With President Donald Trump’s "One Big, Beautiful Bill’ on thin ice in the Senate, lawmakers across Capitol Hill blocked out large chunks of time to hear directly about the strikes in Iran from Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair Dan Caine in classified briefings Tuesday.
But by early afternoon, whispers fanned across Capitol Hill that the briefings were postponed.
“I just heard that,” Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ), a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, told Raw Story. “Did they say why?”
Even powerful Republican senators were left asking the same question on their way to their weekly conference lunch.
“Some of your Democratic colleagues are complaining about the delay in these briefings,” Raw Story asked, “what do you make of that?”
“I may be able to find out a little more in a few minutes,” Senate Armed Services Committee Chair Roger Wicker (R-MS) told Raw Story while walking through the Capitol Tuesday afternoon. “I'm going to check on why.”
As news of the postponed briefings spread, so did anger amongst many Democrats.
“It's outrageous, and I think it's astonishing,” Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA) told Raw Story. “I believe it's unlawful, and I believe it's unconstitutional.”
As a member of the House Intelligence Committee, Houlahan says her concerns go beyond the Trump administration.
“I think it's worrisome,” Houlahan said. “And I think it's even probably more worrisome that it would appear that the speaker of the House doesn't care, and so I'm pretty stunned. I'm hoping that smart people will figure out that this is not okay.”
But Houlahan and other Democrats aren’t holding their breath.
The Democratic skepticism over the postponed security briefings stems, in part, from the Trump administration bypassing protocol and only briefing congressional Republican leaders ahead of the military strikes in Iran, while only alerting Democratic leaders after the bombing campaigns.
“That's also really insane,” Houlahan said. “It's bananas.”
When it comes to matters of American intelligence secrets, nonpartisanship has always been the name of the game. Until now, at least.
In Congress, the responsibility of keeping those secrets, well, secret lies with the ‘gang of eight’ — the four party leaders from both sides of the Capitol along with the top Republicans and Democrats on the Intelligence Committees from both respective chambers of Congress.
Reports that the Trump administration alerted Republican congressional leaders ahead of time and Democratic leaders after the strikes occurred have Democrats of all stripes crying "foul."
“It's like the destruction of the system of government,” Lofgren said. “The so-called gang of eight never leaks, because that's their obligation and that's never once happened. It wouldn't have happened in this case. It's outrageous, really.”
“He's going to need Democratic support”
From the perch of more centrist Democrats, Trump made a huge miscalculation.
“If this escalates, he's going to need Democratic support on this,” Bera said. “Because you're going to have a number of Freedom Caucus, hardline… guys that are not going to fund a war. If he needs additional war funding, he's going to need our support.”
At the end of the day, even moderate Democrats are feeling pulled to the more progressive view of their party when it comes to Trump thumbing his nose at Congress.
“It's his general disdain for the legislative branch of Congress,” Bera said. “It's the petty stuff that Trump does.”
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