Video: Sen. Mark Warner Says Trump Needs to Make the Case (but Has Not Done So) for War with Iran; “erratic would be a polite description of the president’s behavior on some of these foreign policy issues”

See below for video and highlights from Sen. Mark Warner’s weekly press availability, held earlier today.

• “The first is the increasingly challenging circumstances in the Middle East. I was briefed by Secretary Rubio as part of the Gang of Eight earlier this week. We have a massive buildup of forces in the eastern Mediterranean and also adjacent to Iran and in other areas. And the question is will we soon be at war? I believe it is incumbent upon the president of the United States to come and make the case to the American people if he’s going to put our troops into what will be, even the administration acknowledges, a prolonged conflict potentially with Iran. This would be unlike the lightning strike that took out Maduro or the one-time um attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities. But this effort, if it goes forward, appears could have much longer consequences. The Iranian regime is obviously awful. But our ability to put enough additional pressure on Iran is undermined frankly by the fact that our European and allies are are concerned, rightfully, about the continuation of of NATO and with the erratic foreign policy; will we have their support if conflict breaks out? We obviously want diplomacy to work, and I know there are negotiations going on today. But I also worry about the fact that so many of these sailors that are on this deployment are homeported in Norfolk. And we’ve seen, for example, the Gerald Ford, which was originally going to go to the Mediterranean and then was moved over to being off the coast of Venezuela then moved back to the Mediterranean. I mean those sailors are on I believe about an 8-month deployment at this point, which is putting enormous stress on them. They will do their job, I know, but if we are going to be in continuing conflict, which is a potential with Iran, the president needs to make the case.”
• “On another matter, we all know a few weeks back we had the anniversary of the horrible crash at National Airport that killed 67 people. The Senate passed unanimously legislation called the ROTOR Act that would put in place the kind of safety protocols that are needed. Unfortunately, the  American flight crash was avoidable as the National Transportation Safety Board said. We thought the ROTOR Act, which passed unanimously, would put the safety precautions in place, including making sure that all aircraft use the ADSB communications tool so that people…in different flights would be… alerted of near collision. Strangely enough, the House though for this what was going to pass unanimously didn’t didn’t pass the bill. Matter of fact, it appears that the House chaos that was going to pass with close to a third two-thirds majority, but the Speaker cut off the voting where it appears some members still wanted to vote.  I find that very unfortunate, because those families and those of us who fly in and out of out of National all the time, we’ve got to have the kind of safety protocols put in place. So, we’ll wait to see whether the House will take up the ROTOR Act or will try to water it down and cut back some of those safety precautions.”
• “And then finally, I wanted to bring up an issue that Senator Kaine and I have written a letter to the Mine Safety Health Administration questioning a miner’s death in I believe November of 25 in West Virginia in the Rolling Thunder mine. And the question we’ve got is the Mine Health Safety Administration is down about 14% in personnel, the’yve seen a lower number of inspections. We’ve got to make sure that miners,  while the numbers are declining in in Virginia and West Virginia and elsewhere, that these mines are kept safe. And I’m concerned that some of the Trump administration’s cutbacks are cutting back on critical mine safety. and we’re hoping to get a response shortly so that we can reassure miners across Appalachia that their safety needs are first and foremost and not being cut back.”
• “Well, [Iran’s nuclear sites] were never obliterated. You know, the president was wrong. The bombing raid never had the capacity to totally obliterate Iran’s nuclear capabilities. Matter of fact, what was so disappointing was that General Kruse, who was head of the Defense Intelligence Agency, when they made an accurate presentation, our bombing raid was very successful, but it couldn’t obliterate Iran’s nuclear capabilities, he got fired for telling the truth, something that is all too common with the Trump administration. So yes, Iran could reconstitute. We’ve known that for some time. And we don’t want Iran to have nuclear capabilities, but we’ve also heard Secretary Rubio talk about their ballistic missile capabilities as well. That is a a different kind of target. It could hit forces, our forces in the area, could also obviously those missiles could hit Israel. But is that a reason to take that strike? I mean, if the American president is going to order action, particularly if it’s preemptive action, I believe he owes an obligation to the Congress and the American people to explain why. What are his goals? Is it just the nuclear capabilities? Is it regime change? Is it simply support of our ally Israel? He’s not made that case. And yet we have an awful lot of American sailors and airmen who are going to be in harm’s way if action takes place.”
• “I am glad that Secretary Rubio started a consultation process with Congress. This is from an administration that has not traditionally fulfilled its obligation to consult. I feel like what we heard on Tuesday was the start of the process, not hopefully the end of the process. I think it is also appropriate that a War Powers resolution is passed. This is not the kind of case where the president has to act quickly, because we’re reacting to either some other country’s attack or it’s in reaction to some unforeseen event. We’ve had this buildup literally going for months. If something happens, it is not a reaction to, it is appears to be part of a plan. If we’re about to go to continued conflict with Iran, we need to have a War Powers Act. The president needs to come to the Congress and explain to us and more importantly to the American people what his goals are and why it’s in America’s interest to to to engage in this conflict.“
•  “I don’t have the slightest idea what the president’s intentions are. And we’ve seen when he takes, I think sometimes crazy action like the effort to take over Greenland, that erratic would be a polite description of the president’s behavior on some of these foreign policy issues. Let me acknowledge the Iranian regime is awful. It treats its people awful. They are a a perpetrator of of anti-Western and anti-American propaganda and they’ve got surrogates around the region and frankly followers around the world. But if we are going in and changing the definition from precluding Iran from having nuclear weapons to saying no, we don’t even want Iran to have any missile capability at all. Well, that’s a different kind of argument, and I’m not sure that argument has been made. Clearly, Israel has huge concerns about Iran’s traditional missile capability since some of those missiles can hit Israel. But if we’re going to put American troops in harm’s way, the president needs to explain what his goal is, what his motivation is, and why this is in America’s best interest. And I don’t think he’s done that yet.”
• “I think that this is a chance for the president to make a presentation about the State of the Union. But I also know when the president uses an event like this to literally bait the opposition, that’s not appropriate to decorum as well. So, I’m not sure we’re going to get that decorum under President Trump. It’s again unprecedented the number of flat-out falsehoods that he said, but I also think it’s appropriate that if you don’t want to listen, you should leave or not attend in the first place.”
• “I’m not going to opine on what I’ve not seen in the Epstein files. I know there have been some of these reports. I think the law that was passed was pretty damn clear that all of the files need to be released and it would be raise huge concerns for me if some files were being kept secret because of some kind of political implications or politics being played. I think the American people want to know. I think the victims need to be appropriately recognized. And again, I’m hoping if there are more documents, we get a chance to see them. And again, remember, this passed with bipartisan legislation. Matter of fact, I believe it passed unanimously in the Senate. So I hope we’ll continue to get the pressure to make sure all these files get released.”

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WARNER RAISES ALARM OVER DEFENSE DEPT PRESSURE ON ANTHROPIC

~ Calls for binding AI governance ~

WASHINGTON – U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-VA), Vice Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, issued the following statement regarding reports of demands by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth directed at a leading AI company:

“I’m deeply disturbed by reports that the Department of Defense is working to bully a leading U.S. company, which has already provided enormous utility to the intelligence community and warfighter. Most Americans oppose unsupervised autonomous weapon systems and AI-facilitated surveillance. 

“Unfortunately, this is further indication that the Department of Defense seeks to completely ignore AI governance – something the Administration’s own Office of Management and Budget and Office of Science and Technology Policy have described as fundamental enablers of effective AI usage – and further underscores the need for Congress to enact strong, binding AI governance mechanisms for national security contexts.”

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