Sen. Tom Cotton on Sunday was put on the defensive over President Trump’s decision to announce a war in a Truth Social video instead of seeking congressional authorization.
Pressed on Face the Nation about whether Americans are “owed something more” than an eight-minute clip unveiling deadly strikes on Iran, Cotton brushed aside concerns.
“I think an eight-minute address to the American people, whether the president posted on social media or whether it happens on your network, is in-keeping with presidential custom of addressing the American people,” he said of the clip, which was posted to TruthSocial around 4 a.m. Saturday.
Cotton added: “Again, I’m sure that he’s going to be speaking more in coming days. The administration will be briefing Congress, and we’re all going to have a vote in Congress, the Democrats are forcing a vote.”
Cotton also waved off polls showing 74 percent of Americans believe Trump needs Congress’ approval before taking military action.
“I thought the president’s eight-minute video yesterday was outstanding,” he said.
“It laid out Iran’s 47-year campaign of terror and revolutionary violence against the United States and our people, and really the civilized world. I’m sure the president will speak more in the coming days.”
While the Arkansas senator suggested that Trump might soon make a more official effort to announce his latest war, the president hasn’t yet made a formal address to the American people.
In his initial Truth Social video posted at 4 a.m. on Saturday morning, Trump revealed that the U.S. had launched “major combat operations” in Iran.
The self-styled “peace president’ added that his spontaneous military action meant that the “lives of courageous American heroes may be lost, and we may have casualties.” Trump glibly added: “That often happens in war.”
In the over-24 hours since, Trump has opted to keep his war addresses online. The president kicked off his Sunday with an unhinged midnight post railing against Iran’s response to the joint Israel-US strikes on major cities, which resulted in the death of former supreme leader Ali Khamenei alongside other high-level leaders.
“Iran just stated that they are going to hit very hard today, harder than they have ever hit before,” Trump raged in his post. “THEY BETTER NOT DO THAT, HOWEVER, BECAUSE IF THEY DO, WE WILL HIT THEM WITH A FORCE THAT HAS NEVER BEEN SEEN BEFORE!”
Just hours earlier, Trump had briefly stepped away from social media—but not to formally address Congress or the American public about the war.
Instead, the president joined a glitzy fundraiser at Mar-a-Lago, where he checked on his black-tie gala guests during a night of cocktails and dance performances.
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