WI members of Congress offer vastly different responses to U.S. war on Iran

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- A vote in the U.S. Senate seeking to limit the Trump administration's ability to wage war in Iran without congressional approval failed Wednesday afternoon.

The vote broke almost entirely along party lines, and Wisconsin's congressional delegation is also divided along party lines in its view of the war.

CBS 58 contacted the offices of both Wisconsin U.S. senators and all eight representatives in the U.S. House. Five of the lawmakers responded and either provided interviews or answers to a reporter's questions.

Democratic lawmakers said they received briefings Tuesday from Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth.

They maintained the briefings were vague and left them with the sense there's no real idea for what the endgame is in Iran five days after the U.S. and Israel launched a massive military operation that killed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

"They could not answer that question, and that's part of the problem," Democratic Rep. Mark Pocan said. "They can't tell us what victory is. They can't tell us what the mission objectives are, other than to take out weapons."

Democratic lawmakers insisted the Trump administration has not made a convincing case the U.S. faced an imminent threat from Iran, which would have justified the acts of war without congressional approval.

"This administration, through their briefers yesterday, did nothing to convince me the U.S. and U.S. assets were under imminent threat from Iran," Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin said.

GOP Sen. Ron Johnson's office said he was unavailable for an interview, but he did answer CBS 58's questions about the war during a telephone town hall Wednesday afternoon.

"Listen, I hate war. I know President Trump hates war," Johnson said. "People have described [Trump] as a peace monger. I think that's true."

Johnson maintained the Trump administration has been clear about what its objectives are in Iran. He said the White House and Pentagon have confirmed the military action is a short-term push to ensure Iran never becomes a nuclear state.

"All Iran had to do was say, 'We don't want a nuclear weapon, we're not gonna enrich uranium. We want nuclear power, but we'll buy those nuclear power rods from the world,'" Johnson said.

GOP Rep. Glenn Grothman took a more open-ended view of the conflict. However, he said he came away from Tuesday's briefing believing the Trump administration had clear immediate objectives.

"I think, right now, it's fluid. They're gonna see how things go," Grothman said. "Obviously, at a minimum, they want to destroy the navy. They want to destroy the air force and take another wack at making sure they don't get nuclear weapons."

The House will vote Thursday on a war powers resolution similar to the one that failed in the Senate Wednesday.

Grothman said he was confident "30 to 40" Democrats will side with most Republicans in declining to rein in the Trump administration's military campaign in Iran.

Iranians and Iranian-Americans across the U.S. held large public celebrations over the weekend after learning Khamenei had been killed.

The Iranian regime has killed more than 30,000 dissidents in its most recent violent crackdown, according to President Trump and Iranian advocacy groups. 

Democratic Rep. Gwen Moore said she hoped Iranians will gain freedom, but she was skeptical of the Trump administration's briefing and cautioned the U.S. could be facing another years-long conflict unless the president changes course.

"I can understand why [Iranians] might be celebrating," Moore said. "I also want to make the observation that people celebrated after the Taliban was deposed [in Afghanistan] the first time."

When asked what the Americans' role is in Iran's long-term future, Grothman said it was too soon to know.

"It depends how any alternative [regime] would behave," he said. "And it depends how any alternative would have the confidence of the Iranian people, and we're not in a position right now to judge that."

Johnson said he was certain the Trump administration had no interest in nation building. 

"From a standpoint of regime change, [Trump is] encouraging the Iranian people to stand up at this moment of weakness, where he's weakening this regime as much as it'll ever be weakened, to stand up, take back their country," Johnson said. "I, for one, hope they do that, but that's not his war aim."

Democrats said they were troubled by the lack of answers about what the U.S. would do to stabilize Iran after taking out many of its leaders. President Trump told reporters earlier this week some of the potential transitional leaders his administration had identified were also killed in the weekend strikes.

"Honestly, I don't think they know what they're doing, to put it bluntly," Pocan said. "When we asked many of these questions, they don't have a plan for transition of leadership. They don't have an exact plan of when they're going to be leaving."

CBS 58 did not get a response from the offices from Republican Congressmen Scott Fitzgerald, Tom Tiffany, Derrick Van Orden and Tony Wied.

A spokesperson for Rep. Bryan Steil said he was unavailable for an interview Wednesday.