A lone House Republican is joining Democrats in an effort to get President Donald Trump sued over the Iran war.
Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., is one of the co-sponsors of a new resolution aimed at compelling House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., to sue the Trump administration over allegations the president is violating federal law with the U.S. conflict in the Middle East.
The bill is also being led by Rep. Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, as well as Reps. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., Gabe Amo, D-R.I., Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., Jason Crow, D-Colo., and Ro Khanna, D-Calif.
Massie accused Trump and Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth of being “in blatant violation of two sections of the War Powers Resolution of 1973.”
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“For the first time since the law was enacted, a concurrent resolution has passed in accordance with 5(c) of the law, but the White House has ignored it. It seems theyve assumed the law is unconstitutional, but no court has ever found that to be the case, so the law remains on the books while the White House flouts it. In the 1983 case INS v. Chadha, the Supreme Court did not opine on the 1973 War Powers Resolution. Its time for the courts to settle this, and thats what our legislation directs,” Massie said.
“Theyve also violated section 5(b) of the law, but rather than ignore the law, theyve perpetuated a ruse that the 60-day limit on Presidential military activity does not apply with respect to the Iran war, because each time they effect a temporary ceasefire, the statutory clock restarts. We believe no court would agree with this absurdity, and this should be litigated as well.”
Massie was one of four House Republicans who voted with Democrats to rebuke Trump over the Iran war with a war powers resolution that passed last week. The resolution is largely symbolic, however, and has no practical effect.
His open criticism of Trump also earned Massie a primary challenger backed by the president, who wound up defeating the sitting congressman and will likely take his place in the House of Representatives next year.
But the new resolution to sue Trump over the Iran war is not likely to get a full House vote unless Massie or Democrats use maneuvers to force it over the objections of House GOP leaders.
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In his comments to Fox News Digital, Massie also criticized congressional leadership for not doing more to block the war.
“Unfortunately, Speaker Johnson has chosen to let the power of our institution atrophy and is doing harm to our constitutional authority by his inaction motivated by political expediency,” Massie said. “Altho
