Secretary of State Marco Rubio notified Congress’s bipartisan “Gang of Eight” members before the U.S. military helped Israel strike Iran overnight.
The Cabinet secretary called the lawmakers on Friday night, but he was only able to brief seven of the eight members. It’s unclear who was the sole lawmaker who did not pick up; the Washington Post reported it was Rep. Jim Himes (D-CT), the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee.
A State Department official confirmed the notification to Congress to the Washington Examiner. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt also confirmed Rubio provided congressional notification.
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The Gang of Eight includes the top Republicans and Democrats in the House and Senate, as well as the top party members of the House and Senate intelligence committees.
Rubio consulted the group during an hour-long briefing on Tuesday before the State of the Union, per the State Department official.
After exiting the briefing, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) told the Trump administration to “make its case” to the nation about attacking Iran. He issued a similar statement Saturday morning, urging the administration to brief Congress on Operation Epic Fury.
The State Department official said after the joint U.S.-Israeli strikes had begun, the Department of War notified the House and Senate armed services committees of the ongoing operation.
The attack is reminiscent of the early January operation in Venezuela, where the U.S. military bombed the capital of Caracas and captured former Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro. That overnight operation also took place on a Friday night into the next morning.
Where the Venezuela operation differs from the latest Iran attack, however, is that Congress was not notified by the Trump administration in advance. Rubio justified his decision to not communicate with federal lawmakers at the time, saying such a notification could have jeopardized the mission and risked the lives of U.S. service members.
Rubio last briefed the Gang of Eight on Jan. 5, two days after the Venezuela operation.
The Gang of Eight was also not notified of the U.S. strikes on three Iranian nuclear facilities ahead of Operation Midnight Hammer last June.
The lack of communication between the White House and Congress about U.S. military strikes has prompted Democrats to call for a vote to enforce the War Powers Act. The federal law requires the president to seek congressional approval before launching attacks overseas. Schumer reiterated his party’s call for a war powers vote, even though Rubio briefed some members of Congress on the situation beforehand, unlike the other two times.
President Donald Trump argued his goal is to stop Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon and to free the Iranian people instead of seeking a protracted war with the Islamic Republic. Some conservative figures, like former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), don’t see it the same way.
In a social media post Saturday morning, Greene criticized Trump for campaigning on peace in 2024 and making his supporters, including her, believe he wouldn’t take part in international conflicts.
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“We said ‘No More Foreign Wars, No More Regime Change!’ We said it on rally stage after rally stage, speech after speech,” she said. “Trump, Vance, basically the entire admin campaigned on it and promised to put America FIRST and Make America Great Again.”
“Now, America is going to be force fed and gas lighted all the ‘noble’ reasons the American ‘Peace’ and Pro-Peace administration had to go to war once again this year, after being in power for only a year. Head-spinning, but maga,” Greene concluded.