Congressional briefings on Iran conflict are postponed
A pair of planned congressional briefings on the volatile situation in the Middle East have been postponed, according to four people granted anonymity to describe the private plans.
The House and Senate were set to receive separate all-member briefings Tuesday afternoon from a group of top aides to President Donald Trump, including Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Joint Chiefs Chair Dan Caine.
Speaker Mike Johnson announced the House briefing will now happen Friday. He previously told reporters the “tentative plan” was for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio to participate. Both Cabinet secretaries are with Trump at the NATO Summit in the Netherlands. The Senate briefing will happen Thursday, according to one of the four people.
“There's a lot going on right now, and I'm sure the Situation Room in the White House is a flurry of activity, and I think it may be that some of the folks that were going to come over here and brief us have been or otherwise engaged,” Johnson said, adding that it was not guaranteed that Hegseth or Rubio would actually appear.
The rescheduling comes as a Trump-brokered cease-fire between Iran and Israel hangs by a thread, and Democratic leaders reacted angrily to the move.
“This last-minute postponement is outrageous, evasive and derelict,” Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement. “Senators deserve full transparency, and the administration has a legal obligation to inform Congress precisely about what is happening.”
Johnson said “nobody should read anything into” the postponement and that the White House has respect for Congress’ war-making powers under the Constitution.
Still, the delay adds insult to injury after the administration skipped the customary congressional notifications ahead of its airstrikes on Iran. Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.), the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said it was not essential for the two secretaries to attend.
“We had already scheduled a group of people who have as much access to the information as Rubio and Hegseth,” Reed said in a brief interview. “What we wanted was a timely [briefing]; now it's been delayed.”
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries chided the administration for pushing off the briefing, adding that a request for a classified briefing for the Gang of Eight — the top party leaders and Intelligence Committee chairs and ranking members in both chambers, who are typically first informed of military operations or covert matters — hasn't yet been fulfilled.
"What are the facts that the Trump administration is trying to hide?" Jeffries said in a statement. "The American people deserve to know the truth."
The top Democrats on the House Armed Services, Intelligence and Foreign Affairs panels — Reps. Adam Smith, Jim Himes and Gregory Meeks, respectively — similarly blasted Trump. The trio has filed legislation that would block further military action against Iran unless Congress votes to grant Trump that authority, and could force a vote in the coming weeks.
"The Administration must be forthcoming in terms of what was accomplished by the unauthorized strikes and how much of Iran’s nuclear program has been impacted," they said in a joint statement. "These are the questions the White House does not want to answer because to do so honestly would likely not align with President Trump’s declarations of victory."
Connor O'Brien and Nicholas Wu contributed to this report.
