Sophia Michaels
Mike Lee, a Republican senator from Utah, has joined forces with Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders to place a check on President Donald Trump’s ability to escalate military hostilities with Iran.
Lee is now a co-sponsor of legislation introduced by Sanders after last week’s strike on Soleimani. The bill would halt funding for further military action initiated by President Donald against Iran without approval from Congress.
This news comes on the heels of Lee, earlier in the week, angrily emerging from a classified briefing by the Trump administration regarding the strike on General Qasem Soleimani. The senator said that it was “the worst briefing I’ve seen, at least on a military issue, in the nine years I’ve served in the United States Senate.”
Another staunch ally of the president, Florida Republican Congressman Matt Gaetz, also made waves this week when he voted in favor of the War Powers Resolution, a move that also looks to curtail further military action by Trump against Iran without congressional consent.
Gaetz’s vote, and his reported attempts to recruit other Republicans to sign onto the legislation, did not go over well in the White House. According to the Washington Post, one senior official said Gaetz’s move was “super uncool” and “quite unwise.” The same official went on to say that Gaetz is now on the outs with the administration and will not receive any response to his calls, texts, or “smoke signals or his kneelings in the snow.”
Trump “fiercely complained about Gaetz” after the vote, so he may have his work cut out for him to fall back in the president’s good graces. However, the Post does point out that Gaetz has been called “the Trumpiest Congressman in Trump’s Washington,” so even if a walk back is not in the cards, we can likely expect a Trump-praising Fox News appearance soon.
Featured via: Rollingstone
