Murphy On Face the Nation: It Won't Be Trump's Kids That Die For This War Of Choice With Iran

WASHINGTON-U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) on Sunday appeared on CBS's Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan. Murphy unequivocally condemned Trump's choice to launch a war with Iran, which the American people do not want and has already cost American lives. Murphy argued Trump's decision to take military action without congressional authorization and a political endgame is not only illegal, but also a grave strategic and moral misstep which will jeopardize the interests of the United States, our regional allies in the Middle East, and the Iranian people. Murphy demanded the Trump administration act legally and in the interest of Americans both abroad and domestically, as Republicans continue to insist on extending the partial government shutdown and blocking common sense reforms to an out-of-control Department of Homeland Security.

Murphy made clear Trump attacked Iran to distract from the disaster and corruption he has unleashed at home: "Nobody in this country is asking for war with Iran, just like months ago, no one in this country was asking for war with Venezuela. This President is intentionally tanking our economy. He is the most corrupt president in the history of our nation, and Americans want him to focus on the crises here at home. Instead, he is busy getting us involved in quagmires overseas that already are becoming deadly to American soldiers. This is a disaster."

Murphy condemned Trump's illegal strikes against Iran, emphasizing Congress' exclusive role in authorizing military action:"The President is obligated under the Constitution to come to Congress and ask for an authorization of military force. He wouldn't get that authorization if he asked for it. Congress wouldn't vote to give him the permission to do it, but he's obligated to come to Congress."

Murphy emphasized Trump's strikes have not toppled the Iranian regime, or put the country on the path to democracy: "His intelligence agencies have already told him that the most likely outcome is that hardline members of the IRGC replace the current leadership. So we're not going to get a democracy. We're going to get an even worse Iranian leadership. We already know that you can't bomb their nuclear program out of existence…So we're going to have Americans dying, and the end result is going to be hardline leadership continues in Iran and we don't get rid of their nuclear program. That's a moral and strategic disaster for the country."

He continued: "All that will happen at the end of this, most likely - listen, I'm rooting for democracy in Iran - but the most likely outcome here is that hardliners take over the government, they restart their missile program, they restart their nuclear program, and we're just right back at bombing them again and putting American lives and regional lives at risk again in a year or two."

Murphy laid out why the Trump administration cannot meet their stated goals of regime change without a boots on the ground invasion that puts more American lives at risk: "There is no history. There is no experience that shows an air campaign alone will result in positive regime change. In fact, there's not a single example of it in the entirety of American history. An air campaign without at least the threat of a ground invasion, which the administration is ruling out, never results in a democratic rebirth in an authoritarian country. So the plan they have laid out, sustained airstrikes without a ground invasion is destined to fail."

While Trump and his billionaire cabinet cheerlead the country into war, Murphy emphasized the American people would bear the highest costs: "It won't be the billionaire kids of Donald Trump and his buddies that die. It's going to be the children of middle-class and poor families all across this country who are going to die for a war of choice, a war of vanity, an illegal war."

Murphy asserted Democrats must stand firm on the DHS funding fight, even as Republicans drag us into a new war: "Because [Republicans] launched an illegal, disastrous war in Iran, we should give them permission to continue using ICE to murder American citizens, to allow them to get the funding to tear gas schools? No, we need to stand up for the American citizens that ICE is murdering, the kids that they are terrorizing …We can do two things at once. We can demand that ICE stop murdering American citizens, and we can demand that the administration not send our kids to die for a war that we don't need. … This is what the people want. The people want ICE to start behaving legally, and they don't want wars overseas. So I think this is a pretty clear case of Democrats standing with the American people when it comes to domestic crises and international crises."

A full transcript of the interview is available below.

Brennan: Joining us now is Connecticut Democratic Senator Chris Murphy, good morning.

Murphy: Good morning.

Brennan: You have called for Congress to return to Washington and to vote on whether to try to essentially halt this military action. No War Powers Resolution has ever overcome a presidential veto. Why do you think you need to take one?

Murphy: Well, nobody in this country is asking for war with Iran, just like months ago, no one in this country was asking for war with Venezuela. This President is intentionally tanking our economy. He is the most corrupt president in the history of our nation, and Americans want him to focus on the crises here at home. Instead, he is busy getting us involved in quagmires overseas that already are becoming deadly to American soldiers. This is a disaster. It is illegal, and the President is obligated under the Constitution to come to Congress and ask for an authorization of military force. He wouldn't get that authorization if he asked for it. Congress wouldn't vote to give him the permission to do it, but he's obligated to come to Congress.

Brennan: The administration would argue Venezuela was a limited military operation. They're not explaining to the public yet, beyond that Twitter video, exactly what the plan is here. But the President has tweeted, in a way, describing this as an open ended conflict until peace is achieved. You're using the term war. You do consider this to be a war.

Murphy: Of course, we are engaged in regular, ongoing military strikes that have already killed American soldiers, with the goal of regime change. If that is not war, what is? Now, the president has said that the goal is regime change, and the goal is to eliminate Iran's missile program and their nuclear program. He is not going to succeed in either of those endeavors.

His intelligence agencies have already told him that the most likely outcome is that hardline members of the IRGC replace the current leadership. So we're not going to get a democracy. We're going to get an even worse Iranian leadership. We already know that you can't bomb their nuclear program out of existence. He told us last year that he had obliterated the program, and then apparently, over the course of the last year, they had gotten back to within a week. So we're going to have Americans dying, and the end result is going to be: hardline leadership continues in Iran and we don't get rid of their nuclear program. That's a moral and strategic disaster for the country.

Brennan: Well, you're summarizing the administration's views in perhaps a more succinct way than they have, because we haven't even heard a clear public accounting of the state of their nuclear program. Rubio said they weren't enriching - Witkoff said something else. But I want to ask you about something in regard to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee where you sit: the State Department has issued a worldwide caution alert to all Americans. They have set up a task force, that they say they're going to try to figure out how to help the Americans who are trapped in the Middle East and throughout the world. But the US embassy in Israel said they're closed and they can't help evacuate. If you're an American abroad or a family member, what should you be doing right now?

Murphy: Well, I think you can call your Member of Congress or your senator, we will do whatever we can to help. But it's no secret that this administration has no plan for the chaos that is unfolding right now in the Middle East. Those scenes that you showed at the beginning of the program are frightening.

Violence is not contained just to the Middle East. It's spilling over into Pakistan and other parts of the world, and it's no secret that our allies in the region, with the exception of the right-wing government in Israel, had begged us not to take this action, because they knew that the spillover, which is now looking like regional conflict, was the likely outcome. So again, what are we getting out of this? We're not getting regime change to a democracy. We're not going to eliminate their nuclear program. We are going to have regional war breaking out.

It won't be the billionaire kids of Donald Trump and his buddies that die. It's going to be the children of middle-class and poor families all across this country who are going to die for a war of choice, a war of vanity, an illegal war.

Brennan: Well, we are going to hope for more briefings to Congress, or engagement with the press to explain some of these things. When we are talking about the Americans though, around the world right now, there is also from the FBI and homeland security concern about cyber vulnerabilities and potential threats to infrastructure. They put out alerts about this. Given the current situation, Republicans are calling on Democrats to consider stopping the position you have taken, which is to halt some funding to Homeland Security. Do you feel you need to reconsider this position?

Murphy: So the Republicans are saying that, because they launched an illegal, disastrous war in Iran, we should give them permission to continue using ICE to murder American citizens, to allow them to get the funding to tear gas schools. No, we need to stand up for the American citizens that ICE is murdering, the kids that they are terrorizing. They should stop this illegal war, and they should stop ICE from terrorizing our communities. We should demand that they do both things.

Brennan: The administration would say they have adjusted some of the way they're carrying out policies within DHS.

Murphy: They have not. I mean, just because some of the world's and the nation's attention has turned away from Minneapolis, that doesn't mean that they aren't still brutalizing American citizens. We just discovered last week that they had left a Burmese immigrant for dead five miles from his home, blind and disabled. This brutality is continuing in the country. We can do two things at once. We can demand that ICE stop murdering American citizens, and we can demand that the administration not send our kids to die for a war that we don't need.

Brennan: So you believe that with the current funding Homeland Security has, that they are able to protect the homeland in an adequate fashion? That's what I hear you saying.

Murphy: Listen, I believe that the administration should make a commitment to legally prosecuting the laws of this nation. I don't have any obligation to fund a Department of Homeland Security that is violating the law every day, just like I don't have any obligation to support this war, that is illegal as well.

Brennan: So three weeks and counting, it sounds like the standoff is not ending.

Murphy: Well, if they agree to start adhering to the law at the Department of Homeland Security, they will have the votes immediately. But listen, this is what the people want. The people want ICE to start behaving legally, and they don't want wars overseas. So I think this is a pretty clear case of Democrats standing with the American people when it comes to domestic crises and international crises.

Brennan: So, back on Iran: if there had been a briefing, if there had been full disclosure of the state of negotiations, or an assessment of Iran's nuclear program, would Democrats have been persuadable to support military action? I ask that because the Biden administration initially had reached out to Iran to try to get to a negotiated deal, and they weren't able to get one, in part because they weren't willing to lift sanctions off of the IRGC. So in other words, are we just in a place where military conflict or confrontation was inevitable and it just happened to land on Donald Trump's watch?

Murphy: Donald Trump precipitated this crisis, right? He inherited a nuclear agreement that was working, that had put Iran more than a year away from -

Brennan: The JCPOA?

Murphy: The JCPOA. Against the advice of his advisers, he tossed that agreement out, which brought us to this moment.

Brennan: It would have expired by now.

Murphy: Right, but I think Iran would have certainly been willing to extend those provisions if we were still in the agreement.

But second, there is no history. There is no experience that shows an air campaign alone will result in positive regime change. In fact, there's not a single example of it in the entirety of American history. An air campaign without at least the threat of a ground invasion, which the administration is ruling out, never results in a democratic rebirth in an authoritarian country. So the plan they have laid out, sustained airstrikes without a ground invasion is destined to fail.

All that will happen at the end of this, most likely - listen, I'm rooting for democracy in Iran - but the most likely outcome here is that hardliners take over the government, they restart their missile program, they restart their nuclear program, and we're just right back at bombing them again and putting American lives and regional lives at risk again in a year or two.

Brennan: Alright, Senator Murphy, thank you for your time this morning.

Murphy: Thank you.