GOP Sen. Mike Lee ridicules Trump administration's 'insulting' Soleimani briefing, backs Democrats' war powers resolution

Sen. Mike Lee
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Do not count Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) among the GOP lawmakers pleased with the Trump administration's classified briefing Wednesday on the U.S. strike that killed Iranian Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani in Iraq last week.

Lee was apparently furious after witnessing the closed-door discussions about the justification of the strike and Washington's next steps amid heightened tensions with Tehran. The senator called the briefing "insulting" and said it was the worst he's heard on a military issue since becoming a senator in 2011. Before he went into the briefing room, Lee said, he wasn't sure if he was going to back a Senate Democrat-backed war powers resolution led by Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), but the meeting convinced him to throw his weight behind it. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) will reportedly join Lee in backing the measure, as well.

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Tim O'Donnell

Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.