Secretary of State Marco Rubio fired back at reporters on Monday when they questioned him about the joint military action undertaken by the United States and Israel against the Iranian regime, asking why no one from President Donald Trump’s administration had notified Congress before the first strikes.
Rubio said that the Gang of Eight — a bipartisan group that is comprised of the eight top-ranking congressional leaders — had been informed, but said that no law compelled the administration to inform Congress writ large prior to taking action.
WATCH:
🚨 BREAKING: Sec. Marco Rubio is on FIRE right now
“Why not notify Congress?!”
RUBIO: “We can’t notify 535 members of Congress. Vote on whatever they want. There’s NO law saying we have to do that.”
“We did notify the Gang of 8…NO LAW requires the president! NO presidential… pic.twitter.com/nrtf9sWNFt
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) March 2, 2026
“Why not notify Congress ahead of this —?” the reporter asked.
“Well, we did,” Rubio pushed back immediately. “We notified Congress, well, we notified the Gang of Eight, we notified congressional leadership. There’s no law that says we have to do that. The law says that we have to notify them 48 hours after beginning hostilities. We’ve done that. I think the notification went today.”
“But we did notify members of Congress in advance,” he continued. “We can’t notify 535 members of Congress.”
When one reporter interrupted, arguing that Congress had to vote on a resolution declaring war, Rubio shot back, “Congress can vote on whatever they want, but there’s NO law saying we have to do that. And I’m going to say something because I see people on TV — look, that’s fine, if they want to take a War Powers vote, they can do that, they’ve done that. They’ve done that a bunch of times.”
Rubio repeated that there was no law requiring a president to take any action to notify Congress about strikes before engaging, adding, “To begin with, no presidential administration has ever accepted the War Powers Act as constitutional, not Republican presidents, not Democratic presidents. That said, we have followed the notification at 48 hours, and we’re here today.”
“I’ve done more Gang of Eight briefings than I got in four years of Biden! I was in the Gang of 8. We complied with the law and we will continue to comply with it,” he concluded.
According to the War Powers Resolution of 1973, the president must inform Congress within 48 hours after taking military action or sending troops into combat or imminent combat. A president can then continue such military action for only 60 days — with an additional 30 days for troop drawdown — without a vote from Congress authorizing the continued operations.
