The Scoop
A bipartisan pair of senators is warning the White House that recent US strikes on the Houthis in Yemen risk “emboldening” the Iranian-backed group and flouted the law regarding congressional oversight of military operations.
The letter from Sens. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., and Rand Paul, R-Ky., shared first with Semafor, concerns the strikes that have made headlines recently for a different reason — top Trump administration officials’ discussion of the operation on a Signal chat that included a journalist.
The senators’ letter made no mention of the Signal debacle. Instead, Merkley and Paul raised concerns about the strikes themselves, as well as the administration’s justification, and requested a classified briefing.
“Neither the U.S. strikes since October 2023 ordered by President Joe Biden, nor the previous years-long campaign against the Houthis conducted by Saudi Arabia were successful in establishing deterrence against the Houthis,” Merkley and Paul wrote in the letter sent to President Donald Trump on Tuesday.
“Rather, these campaigns only served to embolden the Houthis and rally their recruiting base,” they added.
The military campaign against the Tehran-backed Houthis over their Red Sea shipping attacks began with strikes on March 15, and administration officials say it will be ongoing.
The administration should “explain to Congress and the American people its expected path forward given the failure of previous such efforts and statements … that the military campaign will continue and possibly expand to include military action against Iran,” the senators wrote.
Asked about the letter on Tuesday afternoon, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt dismissed the notion that the “incredibly successful” US strikes could embolden the Houthis. She also insisted that Trump is “well within his authority,” describing the strikes as “defensive.”
“Iran is incredibly weakened as a result of these attacks. And we have seen they’ve taken out Houthi leaders, they’ve taken out critical members who were launching strikes on naval ships and on commercial vessels — and this operation will not stop until the freedom of navigation in this region is restored,” Leavitt said.
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The letter is a fresh sign of alignment between elements of the right and left on foreign policy. Factions in both parties want to see the US reduce military involvement in foreign conflicts, and Trump himself has campaigned on similar broad goals.
The senators’ letter also noted that Congress has not authorized war against the Houthis — a consistent point of tension between the legislative and executive branches, in both Republican and Democratic administrations. Merkley and Paul specifically reminded Trump that his administration is required to consult with Congress before bringing the US military into “hostilities.”
They requested a briefing within 10 days to discuss the basis for the recent strike, the cost to taxpayers, and other related questions.
In a Truth Social post on Monday, Trump insisted that the Houthis have been “decimated by the relentless strikes over the past two weeks” and vowed to continue the campaign until the group no longer pose a threat to international shipping.
The White House National Security Council didn’t return a request for comment.
Notable
- Paul has been a consistent non-interventionist voice in the GOP, and called for Trump to withdraw all US forces from Syria in an interview with Semafor earlier this year.
Shelby Talcott contributed reporting.