Top Dem Squirms When Obama Libya Flashback Collides With Iran Strike Outrage

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) said on Tuesday that he didn’t understand a reporter’s question comparing President Donald Trump’s recent military action in Iran with former President Barack Obama’s military action in Libya in 2011.

Jeffries took the question from Fox News congressional correspondent Bill Melugin, who referenced 2011 comments from then House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA). At the time, Pelosi had insisted that Obama did not need prior authorization from Congress to strike Libya, nor did he need authorization to continue military action there.

WATCH:

NEW: I asked House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) about Nancy Pelosi saying in 2011 that President Obama didn’t need Congressional approval to bomb Libya, but Dems now say President Trump needs approval to bomb Iran?

Jeffries said Iran is “very different” & told me “I… pic.twitter.com/SkLr1R5wr1

— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) March 3, 2026

“House Democrats say Trump needs that approval to bomb Iran,” Melugin said. “What’s the difference?”

“Well, obviously, Libya and the circumstances connected to that were very different than the circumstance that we face in Iran right now,” Jeffries said, adding, “I mean, I don’t even understand the genesis or basis of that question, not suggesting you’re asking it in bad faith.”

“Libya went on for seven months,” Melugin pointed out.

“But I’ve said — as I’ve indicated — first of all, I was not in Congress at the time, so we’re dealing with what we’re dealing with right now, which is a catastrophic endless war as Donald Trump has characterized it,” Jeffries claimed despite the fact that the current operation was just over 72 hours old and Trump’s initial prediction was that the mission could be accomplished in a matter of weeks.

Jeffries went on to complain that the Trump administration had acted without intelligence indicating “a preeminent attack on the United States” or American interests and claimed that if such action was necessary, it meant that the president had not been telling the truth when he said that the airstrikes last year had completely wiped out Iran’s nuclear program.

Multiple Democrats — including Jeffries — have criticized Trump for authorizing action against Iran without first consulting Congress for authorization. Secretary of State Marco Rubio explained that the Gang of Eight had been informed, and then cited the War Powers Resolution of 1973 to assert that the Trump administration had done things by the book.

The War Powers Resolution states that the president can engage in military action for up to 48 hours without informing Congress, and can continue to wage war for up to 60 days — with an additional 30 days for any necessary troop drawdowns — without going to Congress for authorization. As Rubio also noted, no presidential administration — Republican or Democrat — has ever accepted the War Powers Resolution as constitutional.