Mike Lee was not happy with the briefings he and other Senators received today on the recent conflicts with Iran and the need to kill Soleimani. In fact he was quite angry about it, telling the press that one of the big messages they received from their briefers were “un-American”, “unconstitutional”, and just “wrong”:
Lee says this was the worst briefing he’s ever seen on military matters in the nine years he’s been a Senator. He then noted what distressed him so much about the briefing:
“What I found so distressing about that briefing was that one of the messages we received from the briefers was, do not debate, do not discuss the issue of appropriateness of further military intervention against Iran. And that if you do you’ll be emboldening Iran. The implication being that we would somehow be making America less safe by having a debate or a discussion about the appropriateness of further military involvement against the government of Iran.”
Lee says this is both insulting and demeaning to the office that these Senators hold and to the Constitution. He said that “it is not acceptable for officials within the executive branch of government…to come in and tell us that we can’t debate and discuss the appropriateness of military intervention against Iran. It’s un-American. It’s unconstitutional and it’s wrong.”
Lee elaborates more when answering questions about it from the media, noting that the breifers wouldn’t even get into the sensitive areas of the intelligence even though they were in a SCIF (top-secret room where no electronic devices allowed):