Video: Kaine Presses Rubio on Administration’s Refusal to Provide Congress with Legal Justification for Iran War

FULL VIDEO OF THE EXCHANGE IS AVAILABLE HERE

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee (SFRC) hearing, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA) pressed U.S. Secretary of State and National Security Advisor Marco Rubio on the Administration's failure to provide Congress with the Department of Justice's Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) opinion justifying the Iran war.

"We're [over] 92 days into a war against Iran, and the Administration will not let Congress look at the OLC legal opinion justifying the war," Kaine said. "Intel. Committee members, SFRC members, Armed Services Committee members, rank and file members-the Administration will not make it available to us."

"We're the oversight committee," Kaine continued. "You're here asking for a budget. And in the Armed Services Committee, they're asking for $1.5 trillion, an increase of 40 percent over last year's budget."

"You've showed us the legal rationale for two wars, and you won't show us the legal rationale for the third," Kaine said. "Is there something in the rationale they don't want us to see?"

"By not sharing the legal opinion with the Article I oversight branch, you give us the opinion that there's something in there you don't want us to see," Kaine said.

During the SFRC hearing, Kaine also pressed Rubio regarding the targeting criteria of the boat strikes in the Caribbean and Pacific, which do not require evidence that narcotics are present on a boat before it is struck.

Kaine has been outspoken against the Iran war. His War Powers Resolution to force an end to the war advanced the Senate in May. During his time in the Senate, Kaine has been a leading voice calling on Congress to reassert its role in decisions related to war and peace and raised concerns over Presidents' use of military force without congressional authorization.

###