Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said the US and Israeli strikes in Iran raise “serious legal and constitutional concerns.”
“The Constitution is clear: the decision to take this nation to war rests with Congress, and launching large-scale military operations – particularly in the absence of an imminent threat to the United States – raises serious legal and constitutional concerns,” he said in a statement Saturday.
CNN previously reported that Secretary of State Marco Rubio notified some of the members of the “Gang of Eight” in advance of the strikes — including Warner — but they were not given a full accounting of the legal justification, multiple sources familiar with the matter said.
“Congress must be fully briefed, and the administration must come forward with a clear legal justification, a defined end state, and a plan that avoids dragging the United States into yet another costly and unnecessary war,” Warner added in his statement.-CNN