The Trump administration is facing pushback from lawmakers in both parties after it didn’t brief Democrats this week on its legal justification for striking boats in the Caribbean and Pacific.
The top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, called on the administration Thursday to “fire somebody” after officials briefed only Republican senators Wednesday: “They’re supposedly going to make [documents] available [to Democrats] now — bullsh*t.”
“They know they screwed up,” Warner added.
GOP Sens. Kevin Cramer of North Dakota and Mike Rounds of South Dakota expressed similar concerns (though didn’t go as far).
House Democrats leaving a bipartisan briefing Thursday said they didn’t learn the legal justification because lawyers backed out.
White House spokesperson Anna Kelly called the complaints “bogus,” adding that “the Department of War has … additional bipartisan briefings scheduled, and individually works through requests from the Hill.”