Sen. Tom Cotton won’t back down from his role in a GOP letter to Iran — nor a congressional threat regarding a nuclear deal with the country.
The letter, circulated by Cotton, was sent by a group of 47 Republican senators to Iran’s leaders Monday, a warning that a GOP-controlled Senate will have a role in any nuclear deal the U.S. strikes with Iran.
“We will consider any agreement regarding your nuclear-weapons program that is not approved by the Congress as nothing more than an executive agreement between President Obama and Ayatollah (Ali) Khamenei. The next president could revoke such an executive agreement with the stroke of a pen and future Congresses could modify the terms of the agreement at any time,” the letter said.
The Arkansas Republican appeared on Hugh Hewitt’s show Monday night to talk about the open letter, saying he doesn’t understand why the Obama administration is upset about it.
“That is nothing more than a simple statement of American Constitutional law. That is a fact,” Cotton said when asked if the letter was stating the obvious.
Noting that four Republican presidential hopefuls in Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, Rand Paul and Lindsey Graham signed it, Cotton held strong that the letter is simply one of fact: “That is nothing more than a basic fact. If Congress does not approve this nuclear deal, then future Congresses do not have to accept the deal, nor does a future president.”
Cotton said he hopes more senators, Republican or Democrat, sign onto the letter.
“What is unprecedented is an American president negotiating a nuclear weapons deal with the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism without Congressional approval,” Cotton added, reiterating that “if Congress does not approve a deal, Congress will not accept a deal.”
