During an appearance on CNN's "Inside Politics," Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) tore into Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) over President Trump's decision to strike Iranian nuclear sites without Congressional approval.
00:00Well, I think there's a conundrum there with the Speaker's assertion that there was an imminent threat.
00:06If there was an imminent threat, he would not call us back from our recess.
00:11We were on recess last week, and I went to special effort to offer a war powers resolution while everybody was on vacation.
00:19I was able to put it in the hopper during a pro forma session.
00:22But in reality, if Speaker Johnson thought that America was in danger imminently, he should have brought us all back to Congress, yet he did not.
00:37I'm not a fan of the Speaker, but I will tell you this.
00:40I think he's the Speaker as long as Trump wants him to be the Speaker.
00:43If Trump gets tired of Speaker Johnson, he better clean out his desk because that's how he's Speaker.
00:49He's just hanging on by doing whatever Trump wants.
00:52And in this case, it's an abrogation of our responsibility to debate matters of war.
00:57That's what Trump wants, and that's what Mike Johnson gave him.
01:00That is wrong.
01:01And by the way, whether you agree with my war powers resolution that I've co-introduced with Ro Khanna, a Democrat, by the way, we're up to 50 co-sponsors now.
01:11Whether you agree with it or not, surely you agree or your listeners agree that the Constitution requires Congress to weigh in on this.
01:20There's some argument that, oh, there was an imminent threat, so the president can act for 60 days without a vote of Congress.
01:27But here's the reality.
01:28After 60 days, he has to stop unless there is a vote.
01:32So at some point, Manu, I think we're going to be able to force a vote unless Speaker Johnson pulls some shenanigans with the Rules Committee.
01:39Well, he doesn't have to run for real.
02:09He doesn't have to be able to force a vote, but it will, I think, fragment our party, this action that he's taken, and it's going to hurt us in the midterms.
02:17We could lose the majority over this one issue because people become disillusioned, disaffected, apathetic, and don't show up to vote.
02:27And then the Democrats get in the majority and end up impeaching him again.
02:32I think this was a bad move politically, but it's also just a bad move legally and constitutionally and policy-wise.
02:40Absolutely he broke a campaign promise, and there are a lot of – the base will say that, although not too many of my Republican colleagues will say that.
02:55They're frankly afraid of him, and they're also afraid of the Israel lobby in Congress that's given millions and millions of dollars to so many of my colleagues.
