U.S. President Donald Trump wears a 'Make America Great Again' (MAGA) hat as he attends the commencement ceremony at West Point Military Academy in West Point, New York, U.S., May 24, 2025. REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz
Former U.S. Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) encouraged Congress to take back its war powers from the president.
Speaking to CNN International's Christiane Amanpour, Flake urged the president to work with lawmakers.
"The president would do very well to consult Congress," Flake said. "Under the War Powers Act, the president is supposed to continually consult Congress, but obviously — give 48 hours' notice of any action taken. Then he has 60 days for Congress to actually act."
Flake said that no one knows how close Iran is to a nuclear weapon, but he suspected "close."
"But we know one thing, they aren't making any progress this week or next, or in the next month or so," he continued. "That behooves the president to consult Congress. He should want buy-in, bipartisan buy-in. Congress has been reluctant to give that, to put themselves on the line. But the president ought to insist on that."
He noted that it would be good for Congress to get involved again, "to flex those muscles it hasn’t flexed in a long time."
The more people who can consult on the matter, the better, he added, "because there will always, always, be unintended consequences as we've seen in Iraq and elsewhere."
See the clip below or at the link here.