Leader Schumer Floor Remarks Demanding Accountability For Donald Trump’s War Of Choice In Iran

Washington, D.C. - Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) today spoke on the Senate floor on Donald Trump's war of choice in Iran. Leader Schumer discussed the contradictory messages from the administration on the war, the pain American families are feeling from rising gas prices, and the need for accountability from the Trump administration through public hearings. Below are Senator Schumer's remarks, which can also be viewed here:

Donald Trump's war with Iran grows more confusing and more contradictory by the day.

Yesterday, Donald Trump suggested, without any explanation, that "I think the war is very complete, pretty much."

But this morning, Pete Hegseth stood before the cameras and announced that today will be the most intense day of strikes yet. He said that today's activity will involve "the most fighters, the most bombers, the most strikes."

Well which one is it? Is the war ending or are we on the brink of the worst fighting yet?

How is it possible that Trump and his cronies can't make it 12 hours without contradicting themselves about this war? Its incredible. Never seen anything like it: a war, serious, putting our soldiers in harm's way, costing billions which should be spent on reducing our costs here instead of overseas, and they don't even have a rationale. They keep contradicting each other and contradicting themselves.

Yesterday, President Trump was also asked whether the war is "very complete," as he says, or if it's just at the beginning, as Pete Hegseth says.

Well, do you care to guess the President's answer? He said "I think you could say it's both."

He said it's both.

He said, "It's the beginning of building a new country." Those words, by the way, sounds a lot like regime change to me, which Trump and others have denied as their goal.

Donald Trump is clueless. He has no earthly clue what he is talking about. Something pops into his head, he says it. The next day something pops into his head that is contradictory, he says it even though the two things are totally at odds with each other. He doesn't care about the truth. He doesn't care about the soldiers he has put in harms way. He doesn't care about the billions of dollars we're spending here while people are demanding him to spend it on lowering costs. He can't articulate a plan or a vision because he has no plan or vision. And the statistics show this is the least popular war at the beginning of it than any other war this country has engaged in.

Donald Trump doesn't even seem to know whether or not the country is at war. It's as if he wakes up in the morning and decides right then and there what the plan is going to be.

Donald Trump is risking the lives of our troops, the safety of the American people, the stability of the world economy based on whims, based on feelings, based on contradictions. It's dangerous. It's incompetent. It's sort of like a second-grader running this war.

Donald Trump is also a liar. He claims that Iranian tomahawk missiles were responsible for the bombing of an all-girls' school that killed 170 people, including many children.

Iran doesn't have tomahawk missiles, Donald Trump! The claim is beyond asinine. Again, he says whatever pops into his head, no matter what the truth is. And we all know it's lies, but on something as formidable as this, it's appalling. No other leader in the administration-not even Pete Hegseth who does whatever Trump wants-is claiming Iranian missiles did this. Trump is lying through his teeth!

So, this morning I will be demanding a full, independent, and transparent investigation to get to the bottom of what happened at this school, and why so many innocent civilians were tragically killed. There needs to be accountability.

Meanwhile, Donald Trump's addiction to chaos is going to come back to haunt the United States. The most formidable weapon Iran has right now is the Strait of Hormuz, which today is effectively shut down. And now, thanks to Donald Trump's lack of foresight, Iran has a new, even more radical, even more hostile Supreme Leader who will not be inclined to give up leverage over the Strait. That's the one weapon that Iran has where it can unfortunately be successful.

The result? Oil and gas prices are soaring across the world including here in America. A barrel of brent crude shot over $100 a barrel yesterday. That got Trump to say his contradictory things, to try and bring the price down. It came down a little but not much.

The average price of one gallon in the US is now $3.54 cents, that's over a 17% increase since the start of the war.

Yet Donald Trump says "if it rises, it rises." He says "it doesn't really affect us."

What a clueless thing to say. Has Donald Trump ever even filled his own tank in his life? Has he any clue of what people go through when the price of gas goes up? Maybe billionaires like him don't have to worry, but for the rest of us, his war with Iran means more inflation in America. And not just in gasoline. Airline tickets will go up because of the price of fuel for the airlines. Food prices will go up because of the price of fertilizer. It will cut across the board as we've seen before when oil prices go up. Donald Trump is causing chaos in our economy.

Finally, Donald Trump, Pete Hegseth, and Marco Rubio owe the American people some answers. The administration needs to come before Congress and testify in public hearings, under oath as to why our troops are fighting and dying in the Middle East. This morning, I'm joining with a group of my colleagues to demand just that, that they come before Congress and testify in public so they can see what the administration is up to, not up to. And I believe they will see the mass confusion as they engage in this war.

The story from the administration changes by the hour, so what we need are public hearings where the administration testifies under oath. When it comes to sending our servicemembers into harm's way, the American people need to understand why. But right now, they don't even have a "why." That needs to change. We need testimony. We need accountability.

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