Rubio, Trump officials to brief Congress on Iran this week
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks with reporters in the departure lounge before returning to Washington after meetings with Caribbean Community (CARICOM) leaders at Robert L. Bradshaw International Airport in Basseterre, Saint Kitts and Nevis, February 25, 2026.
Jonathan Ernst | Reuters
The White House plans to hold a series of briefings with members of Congress about the weekend attack on Iran, the first chance for the administration to speak with congressional leaders.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio will brief congressional leaders on the war in Iran on Monday afternoon. The White House confirmed Monday that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Caine will hold a briefing of the entire Congress on Tuesday.
Congress has been away from Washington since the attacks Saturday night Eastern time. The Senate returns late Monday and the House plans to reconvene on Tuesday.
White House spokesman Dylan Johnson said Monday that relevant congressional staffers had also been notified.
“Yesterday, the War Department briefed bipartisan staff of the various national security committees in both houses for more than 90 minutes on military action in Iran,” Johnson said in an email. he said.
Immediately following the attacks in which Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed, bipartisan lawmakers called for a briefing on the military operation. Democrats in particular questioned the legality of strikes carried out without authorization from Congress.
Democrats in both chambers have vowed this week to vote on war powers resolutions that could limit President Donald Trump’s authority to launch further attacks on Iran.
Rubio will meet with the Gang of Eight, a group made up of leaders of both parties in the House and Senate, as well as the chairmen and senior members of the Senate and House Intelligence committees. The Gang of Eight was briefed before the attack last week.
One Appeared on CNN’s “News Center” program On Monday morning, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries asked the DY what his biggest question was at the briefing.
“The administration has failed to provide any justification for these pre-emptive strikes, so we will continue to seek the information they owe to the American people that there is intelligence indicating that Iran is prepared to strike the United States,” Jeffries said. “Nothing has been presented to this point to justify what has happened, and the administration has an obligation to prove it.”
Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn., the top Democrat on the House Select Committee on Intelligence. Statement on Saturday According to information received from the administration, “this is a war of choice with no strategic end.”
“As I expressed to Secretary Rubio while briefing the Gang of Eight, military action in this region almost never ends well for the United States, and the conflict with Iran can easily spiral and escalate in ways we cannot predict. Donald Trump does not appear to have learned the lessons of history,” Himes said.
