Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) said on Sunday that President Trump notified Congress of the strikes on Iranian nuclear sites “well within” the 48-hour window defined by the War Powers Resolution.
In an interview on NewsNation’s “The Hill Sunday,” Rounds pushed back against critics who say the president acted outside his constitutional authority by ordering strikes on three Iranian nuclear sites, including Fordow.
“The Constitution clearly gives the President the authority to act on our nation’s behalf,” Rounds said.
“Second of all, the War Powers Act, which is in place, was responded to appropriately. They were supposed to notify congressional leaders within 48 hours. They were well within that range of notifying them of the actions were taken, so the law has been complied with. The Constitution is being complied with,” Rounds continued.
Rounds said the Constitution was acting just as “the founders wanted it to work.”
”The president is the chief. The commander in chief has the responsibility. Our founding fathers were brilliant in the way they wrote the Constitution. They understood that Congress takes a long time to act. They also understood that in times in military conflict or in times of great danger or emergencies that the president needed the authority to be able to respond quickly and effectively and decisively,” he said.
“This president did just exactly that. It is working the way the founders wanted it to work in the first place,” Rounds added.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said on Sunday that congressional leaders were informed of the strikes after “the planes were safely out” of Iranian airspace, adding that the administration’s actions ‘“complied with the notification requirements of the War Powers Act.”
Some reports have indicated that Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) were briefed about the strikes. But House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) has criticized the administration for not seeking Congressional approval and has called for Congress to be “fully and immediately briefed” on the strikes in a classified setting, in a statement shortly after the attacks.
