Progressive Squad Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and a chorus of Democrats called on President Trump to be impeached after he decided to bomb top nuclear facilities of Iran — blasting the move as “unconstitutional.”
“The President’s disastrous decision to bomb Iran without authorization is a grave violation of the Constitution and Congressional War Powers,” Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) declared not long after Trump announced the attack.
“He has impulsively risked launching a war that may ensnare us for generations. It is absolutely and clearly grounds for impeachment.”
Earlier in the day on Sunday, Trump announced that he had ordered strikes to target Iran’s Fordow, Natanz, and Esfahan nuclear sites. Trump noted that all American planes successfully departed Iranian airspace and were “safely on their way home.”
Trump endured bipartisan backlash over the strikes, but so far, only Democrats have clamored for impeachment despite some of them acknowledging that they lack the votes.
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), who hasn’t been shy about splitting with Trump in the past, simply declared: “This is not Constitutional.”
Top Intel Committee Democrat Jim Himes (D-Conn.) similarly accused Trump of exceeding his presidential authorities with the strikes and griped that he was not given advance notice of the attacks.
“According to the Constitution, we are both sworn to defend, my attention to this matter comes BEFORE bombs fall. Full stop,” Himes fumed on X.
Himes is a member of the so-called Gang of Eight, a group of eight lawmakers, including the majority and minority parties’ leaders and top members of the intelligence committees in both chambers of Congress.
However, despite the constitutional concerns critics have raised, legal scholar Jonathan Turley stressed that other presidents have engaged in similar strikes abroad.
“These members would have to argue that it is a high crime and misdemeanor under Section 4 of Article Two of the United States Constitution,” Turley wrote on X, referring to congressional critics of Trump.
“However, prior presidents have used the same authority in launching major attacks on foreign nations.”
Turley pointed to military force that had similarly been used by former Presidents Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and others on places like Libya, Khartoum, Sudan and Afghanistan.
But the legal scholar also warned that the situation is at risk of escalating dramatically.
“Since Iran has threatened to attack the United States in response to such an operation, it could trigger a series of cascading decisions. For example, under Article Five of the NATO treaty, an attack on one member is an attack on all,” he noted.
Read the latest on the US bombing of Iran’s nuclear facilities:
Firebrand Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), a prominent Trump ally who opposed the strikes, called for peace in response.
“Let us join together and pray for the safety of our U.S. troops and Americans in the Middle East,” she wrote.
“Let us pray that we are not attacked by terrorists on our homeland after our border was open for the past 4 years and over 2 Million gotaways came in.”
Hours before the attack, Greene complained that “Every time America is on the verge of greatness, we get involved in another foreign war,” Rep. Sean Casten (D-Ill.) also called it an “unambiguous impeachable offense.”
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) admonished Trump’s strikes as “grossly unconstitutional.”
“The only entity that can take this country to war is the US Congress. The president does not have the right,” he said during a rally in Oklahoma.
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