Trump has 'no plan' on how to end Iran war, Sen. Murphy says

Geoff Bennett:

And for perspective on how many elected Democrats are weighing these developments, I spoke earlier with Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut.

Senator Chris Murphy, welcome to the "News Hour."

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT):

Yes, thanks for having me.

Geoff Bennett:

I want to start with today's global threats hearing, because we heard the director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, say that the intelligence community has identified no foreign threat to the upcoming congressional elections, which would be a first since 2016.

And she also described Iran's regime as intact, but largely degraded. How should Americans interpret all of that? Are key threats actually diminishing, in your view, or is the intelligence community changing how they're presenting them?

Sen. Chris Murphy:

I wasn't in that hearing today, so I didn't get to listen to her full testimony.

But, of course, there are foreign actors that are still trying to meddle in and manipulate American politics. The Russians have never stood down their efforts to try to pit us against each other, to try to undermine our democracy. The Chinese continue as well.

So it is patently ridiculous and really dangerous, heartbreaking, even, to hear the person who's in charge of interpreting our intelligence say that there are no countries that are trying to manipulate or interfere in our elections.

The Iranian regime is intact. They are still able to launch attacks in the region. They are likely planning attacks against the United States. And we are frankly more at risk of harm from Iran today than we were before the war began.

Geoff Bennett:

Let me ask you about that, because you and other Democrats have pushed for a war powers vote, since Congress hasn't authorized this conflict.

At the same time, the U.S. is expanding its presence. The scope of the war appears to be widening. There is this fundamental mismatch, where Congress is trying to assert its authority, some members of Congress, at least, and the events on the ground have already moved ahead.

Sen. Chris Murphy:

Well, Congress is not asserting its authority, because Congress is run by Republicans, and, right now, Republicans view themselves as employees of Donald Trump.

Not a single open hearing on a war that is lighting the world on fire. We have a new war breaking out right now between Israel and Lebanon that is a consequence of Trump's invasion of Iran, where 1,000 have already died. And we have prices going up for everybody here at home, gas prices that are already becoming unaffordable, food prices to follow.

We want Republicans to go on record over and over and over again. I think at some point they will have to start voting against this war because it is becoming more and more unpopular as it's becoming more and more illegal.

Geoff Bennett:

After the classified briefings that you and your Senate colleagues received, you emerged from that briefing and said the administration's approach is incoherent. What specifically was missing?

Sen. Chris Murphy:

So I had another two-hour briefing this morning again, another one behind closed doors. The intent here is to give the public no information.

But what we know for certain is that the administration has no plan on how to end this war. They have basically said that they are not going to try to change the regime. So you are going to be stuck with an Iranian leadership that is worse, more anti-American than the prior leadership was.

They have also said this war will have an end, which means, though we will do some damage to their missile capacity and their drone capacity, the minute that we stop bombing, they will rebuild all that capacity. And that won't take them years. It'll take them months.

Geoff Bennett:

Have they presented any evidence that you can tell us about that would suggest that Iran posed an imminent threat before the war started?

Sen. Chris Murphy:

The closest they come is this idea that, if Israel had attacked Iran, maybe Iran would have attacked the United States and so we're better off attacking first.

But they still attacked the United States. So we didn't limit the exposure to us. We just participated with the Israelis in the initial attack that created the risk for America and our allies. But, no, they don't even try to present evidence that there was some independent, imminent threat against the United States. There wasn't, and they can't even pretend there is.

Geoff Bennett:

In the time that remains, I want to ask you about a potential way out of this partial government shutdown. We're now five weeks into it. The most visible strain is at the nation's airports, longer security lines, callouts from TSA workers who've not been paid in longer than a month now.

Yesterday, the White House offered this. They said that they would expand the use of body cameras for federal immigration agents, limit enforcement in sensitive locations like hospitals and schools, additional oversight of DHS detention facilities, visible officer identification, and that they would follow existing law prohibiting the deportation or detention of U.S. citizens.

From your vantage point as a ranking member on Homeland Security Appropriations, is any of this -- is this a meaningful starting point or is this largely cosmetic?

Sen. Chris Murphy:

I mean, it's not even really cosmetic. If you actually sort of read the proposal that they sent us, they basically said we will just observe existing law.

And you can't trust what they have said because they are violating laws every single day. A federal judge named 94 different court orders that they are currently in violation of. Here's the quickest way to solve the problem. Let's just open TSA back up. Let's just open FEMA back up. Let's just open the Coast Guard back up.

Almost every day during the last week, Democrats have gone to the Senate floor and offered a motion to open up TSA, the Coast Guard and FEMA, and isolate our difference. We have a major difference on how the administration is breaking the law in the way that they implement and enforce our immigration laws.

Let's not hold TSA hostage. Let's not hold the Coast Guard hostage. Republicans refuse to open up TSA and the Coast Guard, because they want to use the closure of those agencies as leverage to try to get us to condone Trump's lawlessness.

Geoff Bennett:

On that point, what specifically is still missing for you to support a deal?

Sen. Chris Murphy:

Well, we have put on the table some pretty reasonable priorities that are, frankly, what the American public wants.

We want to end the masks and require identification. We want to end these roving patrols where officers are just going around asking people to show their papers. And then we need accountability for these murders and these beatings. They can't be just swept under the rug with an internal DHS investigation.

Like always happens, states and independent law enforcement prosecutors have to be able to investigate. We have seen no offer from the administration that they're going to stop the roving patrols, that they're going to get rid of these masks, and that they're going to allow for independent investigations.

If they just do those three things, I think that there will likely be the Democratic votes to open up ICE.

Geoff Bennett:

Democratic Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut, thanks for your time this evening.

Sen. Chris Murphy:

Thank you.