GOP Sen. Mike Lee revealed in a wild interview that Trump officials refused to say whether he'd seek Congress' permission to kill Iran's supreme leader

• Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah revealed in an interview Thursday that Trump administration officials refused to say whether the president would seek Congress' approval should he order a strike against Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
• Lee said the refusal came during a Senate briefing on President Donald Trump's airstrike against Iran's top military official, Qassem Soleimani.
• Calling the briefing "terrible" and an "unmitigated disaster," Lee said officials' refusal to say they'd seek congressional authorization for a strike against the head of the Iranian regime was "perhaps the most deeply upsetting thing to me in that meeting."
• The interview with NPR came one day after Lee made headlines for saying the briefing was "probably the worst briefing" he'd ever had on a military issue and that it prompted him to support a War Powers Resolution that would drastically limit Trump's ability to take military action against Iran.
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Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah doubled down Thursday on his criticisms of the Trump administration's lack of transparency surrounding the decision to order an airstrike that killed Iran's top general, Qassem Soleimani.

Lee on Wednesday made headlines when he told reporters that a Senate briefing on the topic from senior administration officials was "probably the worst briefing, at least on a military issue, I've seen in nine years I've been here."

He elaborated on Thursday, telling NPR the briefing was "terrible" and an "unmitigated disaster."

"My anger was not about the Soleimani killing. It was instead about the possibility of future military action against Iran," Lee said. "And it was on that topic they refused to make any commitment about when, whether, and under what circumstances it would be necessary for the president - for the executive branch of government - to come to Congress seeking authorization for the use of military force because Congress was not using it."

In a remarkable statement, Lee added that even when a lawmaker brought up a hypothetical scenario in which Trump was considering carrying out a strike against Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Trump administration's briefers gave "nothing but a refusal to answer that question."

Lee added that their refusal "was perhaps the most deeply upsetting thing to me in that meeting." It's very possible the killing of the foreign leader would trigger a full-scale war or a regime change effort that may require tens of thousands of troops.

He also addressed comments from his Senate colleague, Marco Rubio of Florida, who said on Wednesday that national security officials "gave a compelling briefing" to senators.

"They answered every important question. Anyone who walks out & says they aren't convinced action against #Soleimani was justified is either never going to be convinced or just oppose everything Trump does," Rubio tweeted.

Referring to Rubio's comments, Lee told NPR, "I think he must have been in a different briefing than I attended. I literally find it difficult to imagine how my friend Marco, who is smart, who listens carefully, who cares about these things, how he could emerge from that meeting to say that it was good. It was terrible. It was an unmitigated disaster."