'Just another partisan exercise,' Schiff says of Trump's strike on Iranian sites

David Lightman, McClatchy Washington Bureau on Jun 22, 2025

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President Donald Trump’s decision to bomb Iranian nuclear sites “should never have been ordered,” Sen. Adam Schiff said Sunday.

The California Democrat said that “in the absence of evidence that Iran was imminently breaking out to build a bomb, and without congressional approval,” Trump should never have proceeded with the strike, Schiff said on X.

Schiff and Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., were sharply critical Sunday of Trump’s failure to seek congressional authorization — or at least have bipartisan briefings — before the Saturday decision.

“Before any further military action is taken, President Trump must come before Congress,” Padilla said Sunday in a statement. “Trump risks igniting a wider war in a region that puts American lives at risk and that he himself has warned repeatedly against.”

Schiff, speaking on CNN’s “State of the Union,” said failing to brief Democratic lawmakers was “making this just another partisan exercise by the administration when it comes to something as serious as the decision to potentially engage in warfare with another nation.”

While Congress has the power to declare war, it has not formally done so since World War II. It did authorize President George W. Bush to act against Iraq and Afghanistan in the 2000s.

Schiff, a House member from 2001 to 2024, chaired the House Intelligence Committee from 2019 to 2023.

Republicans disputed the idea that Trump acted irresponsibly.

“Congress can declare war or cut off funding. We can’t be the commander-in-chief. You can’t have 535 commander-in-chiefs,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a close Trump ally.

“He had all the authority he needed under the Constitution. They are wrong,” Graham told NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

Can Trump unite the country?

Schiff said Sunday that Trump could have trouble rallying the country.

Trump’s quick decision “means you’re not gonna have the whole country bought into this, which is a real problem. If everything goes well then maybe it works out fine in the sense of not being an issue ... that tears apart the American people.”

But, Schiff said, “If things don’t go well, if Iran retaliates, if we get in an escalating war with Iran and we don’t have the country bought in because the president didn’t seek the approval of congress, because he didn’t make the case to the American ... that’s when you have a real problem engaging in warfare on a partisan basis.”

Other Democrats had similar views Sunday.

“Stopping Iran from having a nuclear bomb is a top priority, but dragging the U.S. into another Middle East war is not the solution,” said Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Santa Clara, in a statement.

Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Los Angeles, called the nuclear strikes “tantamount to a declaration of war.

“The President must be confronted by Members of Congress to be reminded that the President must come before Congress to seek approval before a declaration of war,” she said.