Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) on Saturday night said President Trump’s decision to strike three of Iran’s nuclear sites is grounds for impeachment, becoming one of the first elected Democrats to back the constitutional punishment after the attack in the Middle East.
Trump announced Sunday night that the U.S. executed a “spectacular military success” in Iran, striking three nuclear facilities — including Fordow, which is hidden deep in a mountain south of Tehran. He warned that the U.S. would order additional strikes if Iran does not come to the table to negotiate a peace agreement.
While several House Democrats slammed Trump’s strike as unconstitutional, Ocasio-Cortez was one of a select few to go a step further and categorize the move as impeachable.
“The President’s disastrous decision to bomb Iran without authorization is a grave violation of the Constitution and Congressional War Powers,” Ocasio-Cortez wrote in a post on X. “He has impulsively risked launching a war that may ensnare us for generations. It is absolutely and clearly grounds for impeachment.”
Article 1 of the Constitution gives Congress the authority to “declare war,” one of the largest powers held by the Legislative Branch. In the past, however, presidents of both parties have struck adversaries militarily without approval from Congress.
Ocasio-Cortez argued that by striking the Iranian nuclear facilities without authorization from lawmakers on Capitol Hill, the president breached the Constitution and Congressional War Powers.
The strike came after days of debate in Washington over whether the U.S. would get involved in the Israel-Iran conflict, which escalated after Israel struck Iranian nuclear sites, which it dubbed a pre-emptive attack, prompting back-and-forth strikes between the two countries in the Middle East.
It remains unclear if Democrats will pursue impeachment against Trump in the wake of the strike on the three Iranian nuclear facilities. If the party were to pursue the punishment, however, it would be doomed to fail since Democrats are in the minority in both chambers.
At least two House Republicans were, however, critical of Trump’s strike. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), who had been pushing against U.S. intervention in the Israel-Iran conflict, wrote on X: “This is not Constitutional.” Rep. Warren Davidson (R-Ohio) wrote on X: “While President Trump’s decision may prove just, it’s hard to conceive a rationale that’s Constitutional. I look forward to his remarks tonight.”
House Democrats impeached Trump twice during his first term — once over allegations that he pressured Ukraine to investigate former President Biden, and a second time following the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. The Senate acquitted him both times.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) on Saturday night said Trump “failed to seek congressional authorization for the use of military force,” and said “Congress must be fully and immediately briefed in a classified setting” — stopping short of mentioning the Constitution or impeachment.
House Minority Whip Katherine Clark (D-Mass.), meanwhile, said Trump’s decision to strike the nuclear facilities “is unauthorized and unconstitutional.”
Republicans are largely defending the strike. A White House official told The Hill that Trump gave congressional leaders “a courtesy heads up,” and the White House has said Trump has the Constitutional authority to strike Ian as Commander-in-Chief.
Additionally, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) appeared to push back on the Democratic criticism, arguing that the president respects the Constitution but needed to act in a swift fashion.
Johnson was briefed on the strike beforehand, a source familiar with the matter told The Hill.
“The President made the right call, and did what he needed to do,” Johnson wrote in a post on X. “Leaders in Congress were aware of the urgency of this situation and the Commander-in-Chief evaluated that the imminent danger outweighed the time it would take for Congress to act. The world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism, which chants ‘Death to America,’ simply could not be allowed the opportunity to obtain and use nuclear weapons.”
“The President fully respects the Article I power of Congress, and tonight’s necessary, limited, and targeted strike follows the history and tradition of similar military actions under presidents of both parties,” he added.
At least one other House Democrat backed impeachment in the wake of the attack on Iran: Rep. Sean Casten (D-Ill.) said the strike was “an unambiguous impeachable offense” — while nodding to the extreme unlikeliness of a Democratic minority impeaching a Republican president.
“This is not about the merits of Iran’s nuclear program. No president has the authority to bomb another country that does not pose an imminent threat to the US without the approval of Congress. This is an unambiguous impeachable offense,” he wrote in a lengthy thread on X. “I’m not saying we have the votes to impeach. I’m saying that you DO NOT do this without Congressional approval and if Johnson doesn’t grow a spine and learn to be a real boy tomorrow we have a BFing problem that puts our very Republic at risk.”
“A final note of clarification. I am open to the idea that the US should attack Iran. But I am not open to the idea that Congress cedes all authority to the executive branch. No matter how many lickspittle sycophants in the GOP argue to the contrary,” he added.
Updated at 11:39 p.m. EDT.
