All HELL BREAKS LOOSE in Middle East as Iran RETALIATES

This is a breaking news alert. As all. hell continues to break loose in the. Middle East, Iran is officially. retaliating. They've launched. medium-range ballistic missiles at a. United States uh air force base in. Qatar. Several US defense officials have. confirmed that US forces at the Al Yudid. air base in Qatar were attacked earlier. with short range and medium-range. ballistic missiles fired from Iran. No.

reports so far of any casualties to US. service members stationed in Qatar or. the Middle East. uh Kuwait, Iraq um have. joined also Bahrain and the UAE and. Qatar and now closing their airspace. following the Iranian ballistic missile. attack against the US air base in Qatar. Uh the White House is saying that Trump. is monitoring the situation. Uh Iran is. calling this operation glad tidings of.

victory again targeting US forces. Uh. and at this stage um we're getting. footage like this um panic scene in Doha. during the Iranian ballistic missile. attack earlier against the Aludade air. base in Qatar. Play this footage right. here. [Music]. Here we see the sirens sounding earlier. in Bahrain as residents were told to.

take shelter. Let's play this clip right. here. [Music]. This is uh footage showing surfaceto-air. missiles launched um from the Aludade. air base intercepting the Iranian. ballistic missiles earlier over Doha. Qatar. So you can see that play this. clip.

So right now, Trump is currently in the. situation room. US jets are scrambling. over Saudi Arabia right now. The New. York Times is reporting that Iran. allegedly coordinated the attacks on the. American air base with Qatar and Qatari. officials and gave advanced notice that. the attacks were coming to minimize.

casualties, according to three Iranian. officials familiar with the plans. The. officials said Iran symbolically needed. to strike back at the US, but at the. same time carry it out in a way that. allowed all sides an exit ramp. They. described it similar to the strategy to. 2020 when Iran gave Iraq a heads up. before firing ballistic missiles um an. American base in Iraq following the. assassination of its top general. The. latest we have is Trump monitoring. imminent threats against multiple US.

bases in the Middle East. Now uh. potential Iranian retaliation uh against. other uh bases as well. Uh we will keep. you posted there as we learn um more. I. had the opportunity to interview uh. Democratic leader Hakee Jeff and also. the uh Democratic ranking member of the. House Intelligence uh Committee, Democratic Congress member. Um the two.

top Democrats uh in this area. Um I. interviewed them right before uh the. retaliatory strikes. Um, I want to play. for you, uh, Democratic leader Jeff, uh, who talks about how Donald Trump's. declaration of war powers is. unconstitutional. Um, a violation of the Constitution, uh, Democratic leader Jeff didn't mince. words when I interviewed him. And then. Democratic U ranking member of the. intelligence committee, and the news was.

breaking as I was interviewing him. Let. me bring you both of these interviews. together. Now, let's play them. I'm. joined by Democratic leader Hakee Jeff. Leader Jeff, I want to get your reaction. to the strikes by the United States of. Iran, the fallout, the fact that Trump. did not seek congressional authorization. and didn't seem to even give uh any. notification to at least Democrats. So, what's your response to everything that. just happened? Constitution is very. clear on this issue that only Congress. has the power to declare war and to.

authorize the type of offensive uh. military action that Donald Trump. deployed in striking Iran. Now, Donald. Trump is going to have to demonstrate to. the American people and to us in. Congress that there was an imminent. threat that justified his actions. It's. hard to imagine that he has the ability. to actually prove that because we've. seen no evidence uh to justify this type.

of offensive strike. And the problem. with it uh is that there doesn't also. seem to be a plan uh for how to avoid. the type of escalation that could result. in America being dragged into another. potentially disastrous Middle Eastern. war, which the overwhelming majority of. the American people want no part of at. this moment. It seemed that less than 90. days ago, Donald Trump's director of. national intelligence, Tulsi Gabber,

testified under oath that there was not. an imminent threat of Iran getting a. nuclear weapon. Then all of a sudden, it. seemed like in the past two weeks behind. the scenes, I mean, we would get drips. of things happening. You know, things. started escalating very, very quickly. and then all of a sudden these strikes. happened. There there wasn't even any. communication at all with the American. people of of what was happening. I mean, we get Trump's social media posts. online, including this morning, that.

looks like the rantings and ravings of. of a lunatic with exclamation points. We'll we'll talk about the one from this. morning, but it's unclear what the hell. is even happening. I think that's what. Americans what the hell is happening is. is is a common thing I'm hearing from. our audience. The reason that the. Constitution in the wisdom of the. framers gives Congress exclusively the. power to declare war and authorize. military force is so that there can. actually be an informed debate in public.

uh that allows the American people. through their elected representatives in. the House and in the Senate to make a. decision about what is right for the. country, what's in our best interest, what's in our national security uh. interest. And so the failure to have. that happen, there's a high bar that. Donald Trump needs to cross uh in order. to demonstrate uh that aggressive. diplomacy, which I've called for uh. wasn't the right way to go. And what was.

strange about it all is that on Friday. he indicated that we're going to allow. for two weeks to take place uh so that. we can see if we can arrive at an. agreement related to stopping Iran from. becoming nuclear capable which is a goal. that we all share. Iran is a sworn enemy. of the United States of America. We. cannot allow them to become a nuclear. power. The question of course is what is. the best way to do that? And the moment.

seemed to call for aggressive diplomacy, not a strike that was not authorized by. the United States Congress. Then a week. before Trump said that, there was. supposed to be, I think, the sixth round. of discussions with Iran on the prior. Sunday. And then Israel struck, I think, two or three days before there was. supposed to be the sixth round. And then. the Trump regime was basically saying, "Oh, that was all part of our decoy. We. said we were doing a sixth round of. discussion, but tricked you." And we did.

this because we Nothing's making sense. Have you been briefed? Have Democrats. been briefed? Do do is Congress been. briefed? Is there going to be a. briefing? What What's going on? So, we'll have an all member briefing uh. that takes place for the House of. Representatives tomorrow. I spoke to the. White House on Saturday and I asked them. for a leadership briefing which has yet. to be forthcoming and if you have. evidence uh that justifies a strike.

because of an alleged imminent threat of. Iran becoming nuclear capable all of a. sudden present that evidence and in the. absence of doing that you're hiding from. congressional leadership on the. Democratic side and you're hiding by. extension. from the American people. So tomorrow at. that all member classified briefing uh I. expect that on the Democratic side at. least and perhaps a handful of. Republicans are going to highly.

scrutinize the Trump administration both. as it relates to the justification for. this strike without following the. constitutional process and the boastful. claims that Donald Trump has made that. the Iranian nuclear program has been. completely and totally y obliterated. We've also seen no evidence to suggest. that that in fact was the case. notwithstanding the bravery of you know. the men and women in the armed services. who carried out the strike and we.

continue to pray for them and for their. safety. Uh but this is about the Trump. administration and the constitutional. process that's in place. the law that is. required in order to authorize uh. military force that they have not. adhered to as far as we can tell at this. moment and questioning the aftermath uh. of the strike in terms of was it even. successful and what's their plan to. avoid entering into another potentially.

disastrous Middle Eastern war. How. unusual it is it there would not be a. gang of eight brief or a leadership. brief at this stage and that it's the. very first time that you or you know. other leaders of the House Intelligence. Committee are going to find out anything. about what happened would be a few days. after the strike took how how unusual is. that? It's highly unusual that there. wasn't a briefing in advance of any.

potential military action being. contemplated by the Trump. administration. Then he strikes Iran. without congressional authorization. And. then days have gone by without even a. gang of eight briefing, which of course. represents the top four legislative. leaders in the Congress and the top four. leaders of the House and Senate. Intelligence Committee. I mean, this is. extraordinary. And I explicitly asked on. Saturday at the highest levels of the.

White House for a gang of eight briefing. and they have failed to produce it. What. are they trying to hide from the. American people by hiding from the. legislative leaders in the House and in. the Senate? Well, this is going on too. You have the disastrous budget bill. working its way now through the Senate. They're making it this was even possible. worse than what it looked like in the. House. More cuts to Medicaid, more. issues that are going to cause uh.

massive uh amounts of of money being. trillions added to to the debt. What do. you want the American people to know. about that? Because, you know, it's. seems like kind of whack-a-ole here, but. we have to focus on on on all of this. that's going down. Yeah. The one big. ugly bill, this GOP tax scam represents. the largest cut to Medicaid in American. history. Children and families and. people with disabilities and seniors and. everyday Americans are going to be hurt.

Hospitals will close. Nursing homes will. shut down. people are not going to be. able to get the care that they need in. community after community all across the. country, including in rural America. And. as a result of that, people will die. At. the same time, the Republicans in this. one big ugly bill are trying to enact. the largest cut to nutritional. assistance in American history. They are. literally ripping food out of the mouths.

of children, veterans, seniors, small. business owners, and others in order uh. to provide their billionaire donors with. massive tax breaks. And they want to. stick all of us with the bill uh by. exploding the debt by more than $3. trillion. This GOP tax scam hurts. everyday Americans in order to reward. billionaires. That's why we're doing. everything we can to stop it. Stop it in. the Senate. It limped out of the House.

uh by barely a vote. It may come back to. the House of Representatives and we're. going to do everything that we can to. shut it down when it comes back to us, if it even makes it out of the United. States Senate. Finally, I think you've. seen the energy on the ground with those. no Kings protests. Millions of Americans. peacefully protesting across the. country. red states, blue states, purple. states, big cities, small cities, towns. of all sizes. What Americans see as an. authoritarian regime that is constantly. violating the law and we see an example.

of it here just going to war without. providing any information without. seeking authorization. Um, so what what. what we say it's unconstitutional, when. we say that he's violating the law over. and over again, you know, what what what. else can be done? I mean, I think you. see people taken to the streets. peacefully. But but what else can be. done to stop this unconstitutional. encroachment? Frankly, what many people. and I believe is actually dictatorship.

here in the United States as we see our. brothers and sisters being disappeared. by ICE agents, you know, or people who. are being deputized as ICE agents, terrorizing our streets. What do we do? Well, the peaceful protests that have. taken place, millions and millions of. people uh coming out to the streets. peacefully demonstrating, pushing back. uh against the tyrannical government. that they're seeing this flood of. extremism that has been unleashed on the. American people is incredibly important. You know, it's an all hands on deck.

moment in terms of aggressively pushing. back in the Congress, which we'll. continue to do. Aggressively pushing. back in the courts, which we'll continue. to do, but perhaps most importantly, aggressively pushing back in community. after community after community all. throughout the country to win the hearts. and minds of the American people as is. being done. you know, we're about to. celebrate our 250th birthday next year.

And when this democracy thing got. started, uh it was once said that that. if the people fear the government, there. is tyranny. But when the government. fears the people, there is liberty. And. if we want to get back to a place where. there's liberty and justice for all in. the United States of America, it's going. to be important for us to continue to. peacefully show up, stand up, speak up.

for what is right, make sure we do what. is necessary, of course, to win. elections all across the country, including perhaps most importantly, taking back control of the House of. Representatives so we can cut Donald. Trump's presidency in half legislatively. and together I'm confident that if we. continue to do the things that have been. done and we are in a more is more. environment so we have to continue to do. more all of us uh that we will one day.

soon in this national nightmare and get. our great country back on track. Democratic leader Jeff thanks for. joining us thank you man that was the. interview with Democratic leader Jeff. now let me play you the interview of. Democratic ranking member of the. intelligence committee, Congress member. Let's play it. I'm joined by Democratic. Congress member Jim Hemes, ranking. member of the House Intelligence. Committee. Congress member, I just got. to, you know, show you what Donald Trump. posted just moments ago and get your.

reaction to it as the ranking member of. the House Intelligence Committee. Here's. what he's posting. I think he coined the. term panickin. He said, "Don't be a. panickin." But he seems to be a panickin. right now. Everyone keep oil prices. down. I'm watching. exclamation point. You're playing right into the hands of. the enemy. Don't do it. All in caps. And. then he posts to the Department of. Energy. Drill, baby, drill. And some of. those words are in caps. And I mean, now. I mean, does he actually think that they.

do the the drilling at the Department of. Energy? And then he says this message to. Russia's former president, Medvidev. Did. I hear that former President Medvidev. from Russia casually throwing around the. n-word nuclear and saying that he and. other countries would supply nuclear. warheads to Iran? Did he really say that. or is it just a figment in my. imagination? If he did say that, if if. he did, confirm. Let me know. immediately. The n-word should not be. treated so casually. I guess that's why. Putin's the boss. By the way, if anyone.

thinks our hardware was great over the. weekend, far and away the strongest and. best equipped we have, 20 years advanced. over the pack is our nuclear submarines. They are the most powerful and lethal. weapons ever built. And they just. launched the 30 tomahawks. Congress. member, you know, as. who who was it that once said, "Walk. softly and carry a big stick." And I. think that policy was probably the right. What in the world is this? Yeah. Yeah. Look, I think this is his.

advisors telling him, well, you know, uh. oil prices could go up if the uh you. know, Iranians decide to shut the. straits of Hormuz, which is where 20% of. global oil comes through. Uh you know, I. think that's probably what's going on. And by the way, I can confirm for him, not that I not that he listens to me, but I can confirm for him that Medbedv. put up some sort of social media post, so I can at least make get that done for. him today. Medvidev did in fact say that. he may, you know, Russia may provide.

nukes, but you know, I I I I don't. believe that that's going to happen. I. don't believe that individually we've. got the ability to keep oil prices down. And I also don't believe that the. Department of Energy has anything to do. with oil drilling. Now, that said, what's really going on here, of course, is uh you know, maybe the man's a little. nervous because he's uh he's he's gotten. himself and us into a massive massive. gamble that involves gasoline prices and. nuclear weapons and all sorts of serious. things. Um but, you know, look, it's the.

classic Trump thing, right? It's the. game of chicken or I think this goes. back to the Nixon administration. You. know, what if you're the craziest guy in. the room? If you're the craziest guy in. the room and you've got nuclear weapons. and don't really understand what's going. on, which is certainly all of those. posts suggest to be true, people are. likely to give you a wide birth and a. big margin. So, I I think that's what's. going on. Well, I think that worked with. Kim Jong-un. We see how powerful they. are in North Kore. I'm being sarcastic. I mean, the thing of what Treasury. Secretary Scott Besson in Donald Trump's.

trade policies referred to it as the. crazy Ivan theory. He, you know, he. goes, "He's crazy. We just that's that's. the the unifying principle right now in. American foreign policy and trade policy. is that we're the craziest and you don't. know what we're going to do. You going. to wake up? Is he going to start posting. nword nuclear bomb crazy guy or is he. going to go golfing? What's going to. happen? But we're the United States of. America. Damn it. Don't we go through. deliberative process and Congress is.

supposed to be the ones who authorize. war and they talk about these things so. we know we have good intelligence u we. don't have a director of national. intelligence show up 90 days ago and say. nope no we don't see a major threat. right there anytime soon and then have. the president go yeah don't believe her. she doesn't know what she's talking. about that kind of I don't like crazy. congressman. yeah fair enough fair enough um uh you. know I'm quite sure the Canadian people. would be very happy to receive you into.

the warm embrace of their citizenship if. you're not going to make it this next. three years are crazy. Um but uh yeah, look, I I um you know, I I also think. I've been thinking a lot about this. You. know, uh I think that there is not. likely to be a lot of really good news. here. What do I mean by that? What I. mean by that is that, you know, we don't. even know if the uranium was in Fordo or. Natans or Esvahan. You know, it's quite. possible since this was an advertised. raid that the Iranians loaded that stuff. up into a truck or a bunch of trucks, I.

should say, and moved it. Now, maybe. we'll figure that out. But I I think. there's one thing that would be a good. and and visible outcome here. And that's. what the president was contradicting all. of his people on yesterday, which is. regime change. Look, if the Iranian. people finally find a way to get rid of. these evil sobs under whom they have, you know, labored so brutally for. decades now, that would be a very. visible sign of success. But, you know,

I I really worry about this because you. know what appears to be a sign of. success, which is that the regime. doesn't attack milit our military around. the world. But what if the uranium is is. in a warehouse somewhere right now and. the Iranians are working like crazy. North Korea style to actually create a. weapon? We we might not know about that. So I think it's dawning on the president. that he had successful military raids in. the sense that we shook a lot of. facilities, broke a lot of stuff, and.

got our pilots and and naval uh assets. out of the way quickly. But I I I don't. see that they're short of regime change. going to be obvious good news coming out. of this. Um and I think I think that's. beginning to dawn on the president. And. when they talk about, you know, regime. change, you know, I have to imagine. though, I mean, number one, regime. change also can mean civil war, can mean. boots on the ground, can can mean a a. broader regional conflict. And I I may.

be naive here, but I don't think that. the Iranian people are going to warmly. welcome a Benjamin Netanyahu proxy. leading Iran or a Donald Trump pick, you. know. And I wonder I worry that it's. pushes them in another direction than. where they were heading when you saw. protests on the street in Tyrron that. they were clamping down on. if you enga. if you know if if regime changes coming. from Netanyahu and Trump but but what.

are your thoughts? Yeah. Yeah. Look, I. mean you know all we have is history to. go on and we engineered three regime. changes in the region uh over the course. of the last 20 years. Right. Mohammad. Gaddafi in Libya. Uh we had a lot to do. with that. The uh we destroyed the. Taliban in uh in Afghanistan in 2001. And of course Iraq right now Libya, Afghanistan and Iraq. Did any of those. go our way? No, they did not. regime. change in Iraq led to a brutal war that. killed 4,400 Americans. Uh it empowered.

Iran. Libya is a hellscape right now, chaotic, and Afghanistan is right back. under the direction and lead of the uh. of the Taliban. Now, there are. differences to be fair here, right? You. know, uh Iran is a nation of 90 million. people, note that, Senator Cruz. Um that. is actually, you know, commercially, it's not Afghanistan. You've got. educated people. You know, these people. can't stand their own regime. So, I'm. not going to say that it's impossible. I'm just going to say that the. historical record is not a happy one. You know, and as long as we're on the.

topic, um, you know, we haven't talked. about it yet, but this is precisely the. kind of action that Congress should have. been consulted on. Uh, there's not a lot. of um ambiguity in the War Powers Act. The War Powers Act says the president. can go to war if there is an imminent an. immediate attack on the United States or. if there's been a declaration of war of. congressional approval. Now, there's a. lot of whataboutists out there right now. saying, "Oh, well, Biden did it and Bill. Clinton sent, you know, tomahawks into. Somalia and stuff." And yes, yes,

presidents have consistently abregated. congressional power. But here's the. difference, right? When President. Clinton sent a bunch of missiles into. Somalia or when uh uh Joe Biden put. troops on the ground in Syria, uh we. weren't playing with we weren't playing. a nuclear game the way we're playing. right now. We didn't have 40,000 troops. that were very much under the guns of. the people that we were going after. And. so the constitution would say you always.

do this. And I get it, presidents. haven't always done it, but you sure as. hell do it when the stakes are as high. as they are uh in this uh Israeli and. subsequent US strike on Iran. And you. know that that was the intention of the. founding the founders in the uh. constitution. And we got to not forget. that if there's 40,000 people at risk, the people who represent those 40,000. people and their families get to have a. conversation about whether this is a. good idea. Breaking news. Uh we're. learning from Axios and other reporting.

that it does appear Iran is now. launching missiles at United States. assets in the Middle East. Axios is. reporting right now that Israel detected. the launch of at least six ballistic. missiles by Iran against Qatar. Explosions are currently being heard. over Doha in Qatar. There's also now. reports of missile launches now against. United States bases in Iraq as we've. been recording this. Now, I'm obviously. just getting this information. I need to. go and further verify it, but some.

credible sources are reporting it. I'll. start with the caveat of if that is. true, what's your reaction? Well, um. it's a that's a very it's it's not. surprising. Um, but it's pretty scary, right? And it's pretty scary in the. sense that uh we can defend those bases. And I'm thinking of the naval base at. Bahrain. I'm thinking of the air base. that we have in Qatar and obviously. other other uh deployed troops around. the region. Um the Iranians have the.

ability to do a lot of harm. uh we're. pretty good at defending those bases and. those assets, but they could, you know, I pray God this doesn't happen, but if. if the reports are correct, you know, we. may close out the day today with uh with. with American casualties, which again, I'm not sure anybody uh would have uh. supported or at least should have been. taken into account by congressional. debate and congressional approval of. this strike. Um and and and look, it's.

it's fairly obvious to say that if there. are American casualties, there will be a. response to that. And now we are in a. war. You know, I mean, you you saw the. president the president was doing. everything he could to say this is a. this is a one-off. We're just going to. destroy a whole bunch of your stuff, but. that's it. That's it. Don't worry about. it. That's not the way the world works, right? The Iranian regime has their own. politics, and you know, they're already. looking humiliated and weak. And if they. do nothing, if they do nothing, I. suspect they fear for their own. survival. So anyway, um if if those.

reports are true, let's just uh you. know, pray that that Americans there uh. stay are stay safe. I think it was uh. General Mattis who said, you know, the. other side in a war also gets a vote and. that's one of the problems in in war. Um. want to get just your final thoughts. about, you know, everything right now. I. mean, your message to the American. people. I mean, you're the ranking. Democrat on the intelligence committee. For everyone, what that means is you're. the you're the top guy, the top person. on the intelligence committee. That's. usually supposed to be consulted on.

things like this. You're supposed to be. intimately involved in this process. you. have a wealth of experience to come to. bear to be helpful usually to be working. with the director of national. intelligence and people like Hegsth and. others and in normal in normal times. collaboratively that didn't happen here. what's your overall message yeah look my. overall message is um uh we shouldn't be. in this place we should not have taken. an act of this consequence without uh.

somebody other than the guy in the Oval. Office deliberating there's way too much. at stake There's 40,000 troops. There's. the survival of uh allied regimes like. uh like Jordan, right? You know, I keep. pointing out that the king of Jordan. sits in a very precarious throne, right? Because the Jordanian street is not one. bit happy uh that the Israelis and the. Americans are attacking Iran. Uh there. are military assets there. Again, if the. straits of Hormuz close, um you know, stand by for a major spike in the price.

of gasoline. And it and it's fascinating. from a political standpoint. If I may. just take this detour for one second, you know, here's a president who won. elections saying you're paying too much. for stuff. And I think these, you know, whatever we are here, 120, 140 days are. all about stuff that is going to make uh. Americans uh prices higher, including. gasoline, by the way, if this thing goes. south as it appears to be doing. Um and. uh so look, what can we do right now? We. can just hope that sanity prevails. the. uh email the true socials and tweets.

that you posted don't give me a lot of. confidence that sanity is going to. prevail but the stakes are way too high. right now. We have to go back to the one. thing the one thing the one thing that. has actually proven effective at. stopping the Iranians from getting a. nuclear weapon and that is a negotiated. solution. The JCPOA which was. controversial was the one thing that. caused the Iranians to ship their. uranium out of the country and to stop. their progress. Now, the prime minister. of Israel and the president of the. United States decided they would try.

something else. But, you know, if if if. this starts getting as ugly as it could. get, we better get back to that. diplomacy, which is the one thing that. has been shown to actually uh slow the. role of the Iranians in their in their. development of a nuclear program. Congress member Jim Heims, thanks for. joining us. Thanks a lot. Take care. Those were those two interviews. Um, we'll keep you posted with more, but we. here at the Midas Touch Network are. going to be interviewing all the kind of. top Democratic leaders, top officials in. this area. We'll keep you posted. Hit.

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