Jesus-freak and MAGA's House buffoon and King Trump's fool - Mike Johnson, a pathetically small (physically and mentally) man from the backward state of Louisiana - is denying the American public the truth on Iran, although superhero Jesus Loveman once told him, "The truth shall set you free". Alas, MAGAs are morons, just like their demented senile King.
Mike Johnson says public hearings "would adversely affect our mission." (Anna Moneymaker / Getty Images) (Anna Moneymaker)
Yup, secrecy and lack of transparency are usually a recipe for success in wars. Think Vietnam (50,000 conscripted US soldiers killed and several million innocent Vietnamese civilians were killed by bombings, Napalm burnings and Agent Orange sprayings). Asked, "did "the Republican criminal" Dick Nixon hide the mounting death toll in Vietnam?", AI responded:
"Yes, President Nixon and his administration were criticized for downplaying the death toll and the overall impact of the Vietnam War, often presenting a more optimistic view to the public. This included efforts to control information and manage perceptions about the war's progress and casualties."
As the body bags were landing on US soil, Nixon (impeached GOP criminal) kept the mounting US presence and death toll in Vietnam a secret so as "not to compromise the mission". The "mission" ended up a monumental failure and the Americans ended up leaving Saigon like fearful rats in April 1975 after surrendering the country to the Communists.
=================================================
Republican leaders reject demands for public hearings on Trump's war with Iran
Scott Wong
Wed, March 18, 2026
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said public hearings "would adversely affect our mission." (Anna Moneymaker / Getty Images) (Anna Moneymaker)
WASHINGTON — As the Iran war stretches into its third week, Democrats say they’re done with all of the classified briefings from top administration officials.
They now want public hearings into whether President Donald Trump plans to put U.S. boots on the ground in Iran, secure nuclear material there and how he plans to end the deadly conflict in the Middle East.
Few Republicans agree such hearings are needed. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., went even further, suggesting that public hearings would compromise the operation in Iran.
Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va. who has led unsuccessful efforts to pass war powers resolutions to rein in Trump’s military operations, said that Trump "hasn't given a rationale that’s convincing for this. ... We have now said we’re tired of the classified briefings. We’re tired of hiding this from the public."
“When you keep something in secret, there’s a reason you keep it in secret because you don’t believe it will stand analysis in the light of day,” he said.
Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., a member of the Foreign Relations Committee, agreed. “If this administration thinks it can defend this war — I don’t know how it can — then it should send Pete Hegseth and Marco Rubio to the Senate next week for a hearing in front of the relevant committees,” Murphy said of Trump’s secretaries of Defense and State.
If Republicans ignore their demands, Murphy and Kaine said, Democrats will force more votes on Trump's war powers, putting more political pressure on the GOP.
“I think they’ll lose votes in the Senate if they actually have to go in front of the American public and explain why gas prices are so high, explain whether we’re engaged in regime change or whether we’re not, explain how they’re going to get the nuclear weapons and the nuclear material without the ground invasion," Murphy said. "I don’t think they have answers for any of that.”
There’s confusion on and off Capitol Hill about Trump’s strategy with Iran. Who exactly will seize Iran’s nuclear materials? Does the president want regime change? And how does he intend to end Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, which is causing oil prices to climb?
Just this week, NATO allies and other nations rejected Trump’s pleas to help pressure Iran to end its blockade of the key waterway. The president then wrote: “WE DO NOT NEED THE HELP OF ANYONE!”
One key Republican, Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who had been privately and publicly urging Trump to strike Iran this year, said he believes Republicans should hold public hearings at the “appropriate” time.
“I think we need to. I think we need to showcase what we did and why we did it, but we’re in the middle of doing it,” said Graham, who is running for re-election this year. “But it’s very important for me to tell people back home, Americans over there have to be over there to prevent the Ayatollah from getting a nuclear weapon.”
Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., a member of Armed Services, said he has no objection to doing public hearings, “but I still want my classifieds.”
And retiring Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., conceded that hearings will happen “at some point” because “we have to learn from our successes; we have to learn from any mistakes.”
But the top two Republicans in Congress — Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D. — both pushed back on Democrats’ call for public hearings.
Thune said top Trump officials have been holding “plenty of news conferences” with reporters and multiple closed-door briefings with lawmakers. Hegseth, Rubio and others have held separate classified briefings with all members of the House and Senate.
On Tuesday, Steve Witkoff, the U.S. special envoy to the Middle East, led a classified briefing with a small, bipartisan group of senators.
“I’m not sure what the Democrats’ objective would be in a case like that, other than to try and find some way to embarrass them,” Thune said of hearings. “But honestly, I think the hard questions you’re asking them, we’re obviously asking them in closed sessions.”
Johnson argued that holding public hearings on the war — just weeks after its Feb. 28 start — could harm the U.S. mission there.
“We’re in the midst of a couple-of-weeks-long operation that’s sensitive in its mission and scope, and you cannot go outside of the classified briefing to give to the public the information, because it would adversely affect our mission,” the speaker told reporters Tuesday. “They have well explained this to members of Congress in multiple briefings, both before, during and after the operation commenced.”
After receiving multiple classified briefings, Johnson said he was confident Iran posed an “imminent threat” to the U.S. and that had Trump not acted there would have been “mass casualties of Americans.”
Asked if he plans to hold a public hearing on Iran, Senate Armed Services Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss. told NBC News: “I don’t have those plans."
Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., said she didn't think public hearings would be that helpful. Things she heard in the classified briefings she had already seen in the news, Lummis said.
“I have learned more about the war by listening to the news than I’ve learned in classified briefings by the administration," Lummis said in an interview. "You all know as much as we know, and so there’s no additive advantage to having hearings."
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
=================================================
Meanwhile, the same MAGA Moron from Louisiana wants more money to waste on Trump's war on Iran, despite saying America is not at war
==================================================
THE INDEPENDENT
House Speaker Mike Johnson has called for a supplemental spending bill amid President Donald Trump’s escalating war with Iran – despite the fact the speaker has said that the United States is not at war.
“The presumption is we would need a supplemental because we’ve used quite a bit of munitions and we’ve got to replenish the stock,” he told The Independent. “It makes logical sense, I think, to everybody.”
Earlier in the day, Johnson said in his weekly press conference that the war is in its final phases. “This is being watched very carefully, but we're in the midst of an operation that is winding down, according to the president himself,” he said. “We are very close to having the mission completed.” [Yet there's increasing talk of 2,500 US Marines making their way to Iran's coastline and to put "boots on the ground". Not very reassuring statements].
The Center for Strategic & International Studies estimated the U.S. has spent $16.5 billion by day 12 of the war. Tuesday marked the 18th day of the war.
Congress has debated the conflict that was started without legislative authorization. Congress is delegated the power to declare war by the Constitution.
Before the House adjourned two weeks ago, the House voted down a War Powers Act resolution led by Reps. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) on Iran. That would have required that the White House inform Congress within 48 hours of troops being deployed and require that troops be withdrawn within 60 days if Congress had not filed a formal declaration of war or authorized the use of military force.
Johnson, on Tuesday, has also defended the fact that all of the briefings around Iran have been classified and there have been no open briefings.
“We're in the midst of a of a couple of weeks-long operation that's very sensitive in its mission and scope, and you cannot go outside of the classified briefing to give to the public the information, because it would adversely affect our mission,” he told reporters.
Despite Johnson’s repeated declarations that the United States is not at war, the White House and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth have repeatedly used the word.
“We’re not at war right now, we’re four days into a very specific, clear mission and operation,” Johnson said a few days after the Trump administration and Israel began their joint attack on the Iranian regime.
The White House has said that the war is in the final phases, while at the same time hinting that troops might be sent into Iran.
Democrats have criticized the fact Congress have had its authority to rein in Trump significantly curtailed.
“Did no one ask whether this Strait of Hormuz would be closed by Iran? Did no one actually ask about what the extent of civilian casualties would be in Iran? Did nobody ask about what military casualties would be on our side?” Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland told The Independent. “So this is why it's got to be up to Congress for deliberation and debate and decision, it's not up to Donald Trump or JD Vance or Tulsi Gabbard.”
Democratic Rep. Yassamin Ansari of Arizona, who is Iranian-American, said Democrats should oppose a supplemental spending package.
“Democrats absolutely should not vote for a supplemental on a war that has again, never been justified to the American people,” she told The Independent.
No comments:
Post a Comment