Two Senate Democrats have spent the past week demonstrating, in real time, exactly why the Trump administration didn’t loop them in before Operation Epic Fury launched.
Senator Richard Blumenthal called the Iran strikes “a war of choice that rejects opportunities for diplomacy.” He then spread a claim — amplified on social media — that the U.S. was planning to deploy boots on the ground inside Iran.
There are no U.S. boots on the ground in Iran. Blumenthal shared the rumor anyway.
This is the same Senator Blumenthal who called Obama’s 2011 Libya intervention — conducted without Congressional authorization — “a prudent, decisive action.” Same unilateral military strike. Different president. Different opinion.
It’s also the same Senator Blumenthal who spent years telling voters he served in Vietnam. He didn’t. He eventually admitted he “misspoke” — repeatedly, over many years, about Vietnam service.
Then there’s Senator Chris Murphy, who was given a classified briefing on the operation. His immediate response, taken public: the operation was “totally incoherent” and “a disaster of epic proportions.”
Thirty Iranian warships are now on the ocean floor. Iran’s Supreme Leader is dead. The operation that Murphy called “totally incoherent” achieved every stated objective in eleven days.
Trump was asked why Democrats weren’t briefed in advance. The answer has been obvious from the moment Blumenthal opened his mouth. Classified information shared with people who immediately run to microphones — or spread unverified troop deployment rumors on social media — isn’t classified for long.
The operation worked. The leaks didn’t happen. Those two facts are connected.