他们无论如何都会批评他。
参议院少数党领袖、纽约州民主党人查克·舒默在参议院周一复会后，立即加大了对特朗普“史诗般怒火”行动的批评力度，而政府尚未明确退出策略。
周二，特朗普在椭圆形办公室发表讲话时表示，民主党人会批评他的任何决定。
“如果我不这么做，像舒默这样的人——失败者，民主党人，失败者——他们会说，‘嗯，你本应该这么做’，”特朗普称。“换句话说，如果我做了，那也不好；如果我没做，他们又会说相反的话，即你本应该这么做。”
民主党人对特朗普未经国会批准发动打击感到愤怒，并正推动本周就战争权力决议进行投票，以限制特朗普在伊朗进一步动用军事力量。
“唐纳德·特朗普刚刚将美国卷入了一场针对我们最激烈对手之一的全面冲突，”舒默在参议院表示。“这一行动没有计划、没有最终目标，也没有国会授权——甚至没有在美国民众面前进行辩论。”
在与国会领袖和高级议员举行闭门机密简报会后，政府辩称此次打击是预防性措施。
国务卿马尔科·卢比奥在简报会后告诉记者：“我们知道以色列会采取行动。”
“我们知道这会引发对美军的袭击，”卢比奥称。“我们也知道，如果我们不预先打击他们，我们将遭受更大的伤亡。”
但民主党人大多不接受政府的说辞。参议院情报委员会最高民主党成员、弗吉尼亚州民主党参议员马克·华纳坚称，伊朗对美国不存在迫在眉睫的威胁。
“这是对以色列的威胁，”华纳说。
参议院民主党人计划推进战争权力投票，可能于周三进行，由弗吉尼亚州民主党参议员蒂姆·凯恩牵头，并得到舒默支持。他们能否像凯恩今年早些时候推动委内瑞拉战争权力决议那样，争取到足够的共和党支持，还有待观察。
参议员们将于周二收到政府关于此次打击的简报，这可能会决定限制特朗普战争权力的推动能否成功。
特朗普辩称，由于伊朗是“全球恐怖主义的供应商”，“史诗般怒火”行动是不可避免的。
“这是必须要做的事情，”特朗普说。
President Donald Trump argued that whether he carried out strikes against Iran wouldn’t have mattered to congressional Democrats.
They would have criticized him either way.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and his caucus immediately ramped up criticism of Trump’s Operation Epic Fury when the Senate returned Monday, and the administration has not yet signaled a clear exit strategy.
Speaking from the Oval Office Tuesday, Trump said Democrats would have criticized any decision he made.
“If I didn’t do this, guys like Schumer who — losers, the Democrats, losers — guys like Schumer would say, ‘Well, you should have done this,’” Trump said. “In other words, if I did it, it’s no good. If I didn’t do it, they would have said the opposite, that you should have done this.”
Democrats are furious that Trump did not seek approval from Congress to carry out the strikes and are pushing a war powers resolution vote this week to handcuff further use of the military in Iran.
“Donald Trump has just launched America into a full-scale conflict against one of our most fervent adversaries,” Schumer said on the Senate floor. “Without a plan, without an endgame and without authorization from Congress — or even a debate in full view of the American people.”
The administration argued after a closed-door classified briefing with congressional leaders and high-ranking lawmakers that the strikes were carried out as a preemptive measure.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters after the briefing, “We knew that there was going to be an Israeli action.
“We knew that that would precipitate an attack against American forces,” Rubio said. “And we knew that if we didn’t preemptively go after them before they launched those attacks, we would suffer higher casualties.”
But Democrats largely aren’t buying the administration’s argument. Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., the top-ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, contended there wasn’t an imminent threat to the U.S. from Iran.
“It was a threat to Israel,” Warner said.
Senate Democrats plan to plow ahead with a war powers vote, likely Wednesday, led by Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., and backed by Schumer. Whether they can splinter off enough Republican support, as Kaine did earlier this year with his Venezuela war powers resolution, remains to be seen.
Senators will receive a briefing from the administration on the strikes Tuesday, which could determine the fate of the push to rein in Trump’s war authorities.
Trump argued that because Iran was “a purveyor of terror all over the world,” Operation Epic Fury was inevitable.
“It’s something that had to be done,” Trump said.
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