Inside the Trump-Pelosi tug of war over Iran war powers
President Donald Trump and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi are tangling over the legal authorities necessary to attack Iran.
The House is set to vote on legislation this week to constrain President Donald Trump’s ability to strike Iran, setting up a largely partisan dispute between Capitol Hill and the White House.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., argued in a letter to the Democratic caucus this week that Trump’s assassination of Iranian Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani in Iraq violated “Congress’ war powers granted to it by the Constitution” as lawmakers never authorized a strike against Iran.
Meanwhile, the White House maintains that the Soleimani strike was legal under the 2002 military authorization that allowed President George W. Bush to invade Iraq and Trump has threatened to respond to any Iranian retaliation with disproportionate force.
Pelosi has designated Rep. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., a former CIA and Defense Department analyst specializing in Shiite militias, to introduce a resolution limiting Trump’s ability to strike Iran under the 1973 War Powers Resolution. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., has introduced similar legislation in the Senate.
