Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA), who serves as the ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, was not briefed about the plans to strike Iran’s nuclear facility, a source familiar confirmed to the Washington Examiner.
Other top Congressional Democrats serving on intelligence committees were also not informed of the strikes ordered on Iranian nuclear facilities Saturday night, according to CNN.
President Donald Trump announced Saturday that he had ordered strikes against Iran’s Fordow, Ifshahan, and Natanz nuclear facilities.
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“We have completed our very successful attack on the three Nuclear sites in Iran, including Fordow, Natanz, and Esfahan,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “All planes are now outside of Iran air space. A full payload of BOMBS was dropped on the primary site, Fordow. All planes are safely on their way home.”
Rep. Jim Himes (D-CT), the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, told CNN he was not briefed. Warner and Himes are both members of the Gang of Eight, a group of bipartisan Congressional leaders that is typically briefed on classified intelligence matters.
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House Speaker Mike Johnson was informed beforehand, the Washington Examiner confirmed. CNN reported that Republican members of the Gang of Eight, including Rep. Rick Crawford (R-AR) and Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR), were also informed.
Six 30,000-pound bunker-buster bombs were dropped on the Fordow fuel enrichment plant, according to Fox News’s Sean Hannity, who spoke with Trump after the strike, and 30 Tomahawk cruise missiles were fired at the Natanz and Isfahan nuclear facilities by U.S. submarines. All three sites were reported to be destroyed.
Samantha-Jo Roth contributed to this report.