Lindsey Graham: Republicans who slammed Trump administration's Soleimani briefing are 'empowering the enemy'

Lindsey Graham.
(Image credit: Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) believes his fellow Republican lawmakers who pushed back against the Trump administration's classified briefing on the killing of Iranian Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani are "overreacting."

The briefing was held on Wednesday, covering the airstrike authorized by President Trump last week that left Soleimani dead. In the wake of the airstrike, Iran retaliated on Tuesday with its own missile attacks against two Iraqi bases hosting U.S. troops.

After the briefing, an angry Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) called it "insulting" and the worst he's ever heard regarding a military issue. He also revealed lawmakers were told there couldn't be any "divisions" or "dissension" because it would "send the wrong signal to the Iranians, and I think that's completely wrong." Lee said that the meeting convinced him to support the Democratic plan for a new war powers resolution.

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Graham downplayed the criticism, telling reporters, "I think they're overreacting, quite frankly. Go debate all you want to. I'm going to debate you, trust me. I'm going to let people know that in this moment in time, to play this game with the War Powers Act, which I think is unconstitutional, whether you mean to or not, you're empowering the enemy."

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Catherine Garcia

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.