In an interview with NPR, Sen. Mike Lee shared more details from the administration briefing that he denounced so strongly yesterday. Greg Sargent comments on the interview and transcribes the most important part:

Now, in the interview with NPR’s Rachel Martin, Lee has gone into more alarming detail. Lee reiterated that officials “were unable or unwilling to identify any point” at which they’d come to Congress for authorization for the use of military force. Then this exchange happened:

MARTIN: What kind of hypotheticals were you putting to them in hopes of understanding when the administration sees a need for Congressional authority?

LEE: As I recall, one of my colleagues asked a hypothetical involving the Supreme Leader of Iran: If at that point, the United States government decided that it wanted to undertake a strike against him personally, recognizing that he would be a threat to the United States, would that require authorization for the use of military force?

The fact that there was nothing but a refusal to answer that question was perhaps the most deeply upsetting thing to me in that meeting.

Obviously, this was an extreme hypothetical. But the point of it was to discern the contours of the administration’s sense of its own obligation to come to Congress for approval of future hostilities. And it succeeded in doing just that, demonstrating that they recognize no such obligation.

Sen. Lee also said in the interview that the refusal to make any commitment about seeking Congressional authorization reflected a “certain cavalier attitude toward the Constitution.” The senator is being polite here, since the attitude he is describing is not just cavalier but openly contemptuous of the Constitution’s requirements. Administration officials could not offer an example of when they would seek Congressional authorization because they presumably don’t believe they need to and wouldn’t bother coming to Congress. This is more proof that the administration can’t be trusted to respect the Constitution, and it is why Congress needs to make clear that they do not support further use of force against Iran and won’t fund a war with Iran.

The administration’s behavior over the last week has been useful in clarifying why it is so important that we do not defer to the executive in matters of war. Not only is this administration a very dishonest one whose claims can’t be trusted, but they also recognize no obligation to seek Congressional approval for anything that they might want to do. The president and his officials believe themselves to be unaccountable to the people and our representatives, and they apparently think that they have the right to commit acts of war and to start wars on our behalf as they see fit. The upcoming debate over war powers concerns how we want to be governed and whether we are willing to let this president and future presidents plunge the U.S. into wars without our consent. If we are to have any chance of putting an end to illegal and unnecessary wars, it is vital that Congress reclaims its proper role and checks the president’s lawlessness.