Representative Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) reignited the impeachment discussion Monday during an MSNBC interview, claiming President Donald Trump’s recent military action in Iran might qualify as an impeachable offense.
Raskin’s remarks followed criticism from fellow Democrat Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who labeled the airstrikes a “grave violation of the Constitution.”
The conversation unfolded on “The Weeknight” with host Alicia Menendez pressing Raskin on Ocasio-Cortez’s claims.
“You had Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez calling the president’s decision to bomb Iran without authorization a grave violation of the Constitution, saying it is absolutely and clearly grounds for impeachment. Just real quickly, do you agree?” Menendez asked.
Raskin replied, “I couldn’t read the whole thing, but it sounds like I agree with that, that it’s an absolute violation of the Constitution.”
Menendez followed up, asking specifically about whether the incident should be considered grounds for impeachment.
“Well, without saying what anybody should do in any particular situation, undoubtedly a violation of the war powers of Congress, the usurpation of the war powers of Congress would be an impeachable offense, would be a high crime and misdemeanor,” Raskin continued.
“I mean, you know, Israel said, in what Israel did on its own, we set them back 2 or 3 years, so that’s not an emergency.”
He noted that the president can only deploy the military in situations involving an imminent threat to the United States and suggested that condition had not been met.
“Remember the president can only assert the power to use military in a context in which there’s an imminent threat to us, and that clearly wasn’t there,” Raskin said. “So we can add this to a very long list of things.”
Acknowledging the current political reality, Raskin tempered his call with a nod to the GOP-led House.
“But obviously talk of impeachment today when we’re in the minority and we can’t even get Republicans to vote with us on a single bill to try to restore sanity is somewhat hypothetical,” he continued.
“But I’m with my friend AOC in saying we’ve got to keep a very strict catalog of all of the violations of the Constitution that are taking place.”
Also on Monday, a coalition of twelve House Democrats—all veterans—issued a letter backing a War Powers Resolution in light of Trump’s decision to authorize strikes against Iranian nuclear sites.
The letter opened with a statement of shared military experience. “We write firstmost as Patriots who love our country. Each and every one of us wore the uniform with pride. Each and every one of us was ready and willing to lay down our lives to protect our fellow Americans, and to support and defend our Constitution,” the lawmakers wrote.
20 years ago, in a rush to appear strong & tough, politicians – from both parties – failed to ask the hard questions before starting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Today, I joined 11 of my fellow veterans with a simple message:
We refuse to make the same mistakes. pic.twitter.com/kgrgE2UW0F
— Rep. Pat Ryan (@RepPatRyanNY) June 23, 2025
The Democrats thanked military personnel who participated in the strikes, including B-2 bomber pilots and personnel stationed across the U.S. Central Command’s area of responsibility. “We also write as Veterans,” they added.
The letter, which was addressed directly to President Trump, included the names of Representatives Pat Ryan, Gil Cisneros, Eugene Vindman, Chris Deluzio, Bobby Scott, Jimmy Panetta, Derek Tran, Herb Conaway, Chrissy Houlahan, Maggie Goodlander, Salud Carbajal, and Ted Lieu.
Their central concern was Congress being bypassed before launching what they called “preventive” airstrikes.
“We must continue to stand strongly with our Israeli allies — including active and robust support for the defense of the state of Israel and its people, as we have for decades. But we must be very clear; American-led, offensive military operations against Iran — including Saturday night’s preventive air strikes — are different,” the letter read.
Reps. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) had already introduced the bipartisan resolution last week, which would require congressional authorization for continued military involvement in Iran.
“We all swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution. Article 1 Section 8 explicitly requires a vote by Congress to declare war,” the letter added.
“In recognition of that clear and sacred Constitutional duty, we will all be supporting a War Powers Resolution.”
Despite the rising criticism among Democrats, not all members of the party are in agreement.
Senator John Fetterman (D-Pa.) pushed back on calls to condemn the administration’s actions.
Speaking on Fox News Channel’s “America’s Newsroom,” Fetterman made clear he stood with the strike decision.
“There’s going to be a lot of people in my party that are going to disagree with the strike in Iran, and I actually support that,” he said. “I’ve been always calling for that thing. I think it was entirely appropriate.”
Fetterman also rejected the narrative that the president had overstepped. “Just because sometimes it’s… a decision that President Trump did, it’s like maybe, reflexively, you have to be opposed to that,” Fetterman said.
“For me, again, I’ve been always calling to destroy these nuclear facilities.”
He brought up previous missteps by Democrats regarding Middle East policy.
“Let’s talk about the context in the middle of all that now, too,” he said. “Now, our party has been often wrong, and they were pushing for a ceasefire last year. And now Israel pushed through that and has broken Hamas and Hezbollah as well.”
Fetterman described the current military advantage held by Israel, made possible through joint U.S. and Israeli efforts.
“And now here it is right now, Israel has air supremacy over [Iran] right now,” he said, observing that Iran’s capabilities were “severely limited.”
Later on Monday, President Trump announced on Truth Social that both Israel and Iran had agreed to a “Complete and Total CEASEFIRE,” which was scheduled to take effect “in approximately 6 hours from now, when Israel and Iran have wound down and completed their in progress, final missions!”
However, Iranian officials offered a less conclusive update, with Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi stating that while Iran had paused its attacks, no final decision had been made.
“As Iran has repeatedly made clear: Israel launched war on Iran, not the other way around,” Araghchi wrote on X.
“As of now, there is NO ‘agreement’ on any ceasefire or cessation of military operations.”
He added that if Israel halted its offensive operations by 4 a.m. Tehran time, Iran would likewise end its response.
“The final decision on the cessation of our military operations will be made later,” he posted.
In a subsequent post, Araghchi wrote, “military operations of our powerful Armed Forces to punish Israel for its aggression continued until the very last minute, at 4am.”
He praised Iran’s military, saying, “Together with all Iranians, I thank our brave Armed Forces who remain ready to defend our dear country until their last drop of blood, and who responded to any attack by the enemy until the very last minute.”
