Video: Rep. James Walkinshaw (D-VA11) Warns of “real risks” that “we get bogged down in [Iran] in some way, shape or form”

See below for video and highlights from Rep. James Walkinshaw (D-VA11)’s appearance this morning on DC NewsNow, the subject of the conversation being the war against Iran – including the “real risks” of “getting bogged down” there, the lack of clear answers from the Trump administration as to what we’re doing there and what the endgame might be, the importance of the War Powers vote, etc.

• Question: “Did you walk out of yesterday’s briefing with answers to the questions that you had when you walked into it?”
• Rep. James Walkinshaw (D-VA11): “I did not. Look, I think it’s clear that this administration, publicly or privately, has put forward no evidence, frankly no argument that Iran posed an imminent threat to the United States of America. As such, I think this war in Iran is illegal, unconstitutional, and unwise. They also haven’t really laid out any kind of plan to move forward, any kind of an endgame here that they envision. So I think it’s an unwise exercise.”
• Question: “What are your concerns when it comes to the possibility of a power vacuum establishing there in Iran where you don’t really have a clear direction forward?
• Rep. James Walkinshaw: “Well, obviously the risk is that those regime leaders including the Ayatollah who have been killed are replaced by those who are even more hardline. There’s reporting this morning that the Ayatollah is likely to be replaced by his son. There’s a risk that IRGC leaders who have been killed are replaced by those who are even more hardline. And there’s another risk, that the lesson that anyone in the leadership of a new regime or the continuation of this regime in Iran will conclude that the only way to protect themselves from the United States is to even more aggressively pursue nuclear weapons. So, I think there are a lot of risks, in addition to the downsides that we already know, that six American lives have been lost and tens of billions, perhaps hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars, spent on this.”
• Question: “What do you make of this reasoning coming out of the administration that what’s happening in Iran is not akin to Iraq, this is not a forever war? Are you buying that?”
• Rep. James Walkinshaw: “Well, I certainly hope that’s not the case. I mean, I think if you look at our history in the Middle East, we were told that Iraq was going to be short, quick, easy. We would get in, get out. We ended up being there for more than 20 years. Still there. Similar story in Afghanistan. Similar story around the world. So the risk here is that this conflict continues to grow and spiral as we’ve seen over the course of this week, and that we get bogged down in it in some way, shape or form. So I think there are real real risks there.
• Question: How do you think the war’s going?
• Rep. James Walkinshaw: “Well, look, obviously, and I think we saw this in Venezuela as well, whatever one’s opinion on the wisdom of the engagement, obviously, we continue to be enormously impressed by the capabilities of the American military and the young men and women who serve our nation in uniform. And clearly damage has been done to the Iranians’ ability to defend their own airspace, their ability to launch missiles into Israel and others in the region. But look, they maintain a capacity. We’ve seen, as as you all have been reporting, successful attacks on US embassies and bases and positions in the region. I think we’ll continue to see that kind of maybe less conventional but other forms of warfare with drones that they still have the capacity to launch, Hezbollah still having capacity. There’s obviously a risk of inspired terrorist actions around the world as a result of this conflict. So I think it’s difficult to predict and completely understand what their capacities are. Certainly their conventional capacities are diminished today relative to where they were last week, but they still exist.”
• Question: “So when it comes to this notion of an imminent threat, the administration has said the imminent threat was the US was going to get attacked by Iran because Israel was going to attack Iran. Some are reading that as Israel basically dictating American foreign policy and the reason and dragging the United States into this war. Yesterday, President Trump said if anything he forced Israel’s hand. What do you make of that argument?”
• Rep. James Walkinshaw: “Well, we’ve seen different stories from different members of the administration and a number of times over the last week where the president’s explanations have been inconsistent with those put forward by Secretaries Rubio, Hegseth, and others. I think what I can say is, you know, I sat through classified briefings last night. I obviously can’t reveal what was said, but I have not heard any argument from the administration backed up by intelligence that there was a clear imminent threat to the United States. What they have said and they’ve said this publicly is that Iran was trying to continue to develop their ballistic missile capacity, their conventional weapons capacity so that they could use it to protect their nuclear program and develop their nuclear program. That in and of itself is not an imminent threat to the United States of America.”
• Question: “I want to ask about the War Powers votes that are happening this week. This is largely, you know, a symbolic measure. I assume President Trump is not going to vote to rein in his own abilities to wage this war that he is supporting. What is the purpose of it? And what do you think the numbers are going to be between Democrats crossing over to support the president and Republicans possibly siding with Democrats?”
• Rep. James Walkinshaw: “Well, I think it’s an important vote for for two reasons. And I’ll be supporting the War Powers Resolution to withdraw the United States from hostilities in Iran until the administration lays out a clear plan or compelling argument for it. But it’s important for two reasons. One, I you know, I do think as an institution in Congress, we need to defend and reassert our constitutional prerogative to to declare war. And I think that’s important because the American people should have a say. And we know across the board the polling is clear on this. The American people want affordable health care and groceries, not an expensive war in Iran that’s costing American lives. It’s important for another reason, because at some point as this continues, the administration is likely to need to come to Congress for supplemental appropriations to fund this war. And if they aren’t able to succeed in stopping the War Powers vote or they lose a significant number of Republicans on the War Powers vote, I think that bodes poorly for their eventual need for additional funding and appropriations. So, I think it is an important vote. I think you’re right, there may be some Democrats who oppose the version that we’re going to vote on this week and some Republicans who support it in the House. I don’t know what the ultimate outcome will be. I certainly hope that it will pass, but even if it were to pass the House and Senate, obviously President Trump won’t sign it.”