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>> it is the united states congress under our constitution that has war-making authority. not the president of the united states. if he attacks iran, in my view, that would be unconstitutional. >> this president cannot take military action against iran without coming to congress. the 2001 authorization for the use of military force does not cover a military strike against iran. >> reporter: from one of the president's biggest allies in the senate, arkansas senator tom cotton, says iran's behavior warrants military response. here's what the senator had to say earlier today on "fox news sunday...

Provide that intelligence. you're already seeing grumbling on both sides of the aisle, comments from both sides of the i'll that the white house is not authorized to launch another war, yet you have an acting department of defense secretary and you have folks secretarytory to who are really driving the train on this? what can and that's the rub, right? this is why presidents have exercised so much war making authority in the recent years. we don't have any like general mattis in the they can demand and try to attach conditions to funding but in the immediate short term, they don't have power o...

Somehow you can send troops into that sovereign nation without having to have congress grant the president more authority there. i think you are in the miernori view on that, don't you think, senator? >> no. we've already got troops on the ground. i don't see anybody saying cut off funding. if you don't like the thousands of military troops helping to destroy isil. cut off funding. >> karen, the point there being a practical one. while you were sleeping, lindsey graham saying to the country, we're all over the middle east. >> that's right. that's right. and certainly, you know, this has been t...

Larger point is correct, that the more support you have in washington, d.c., and across the country for a military campaign, the better. and i think that there is -- i don't think there is a lot of political cost for trump going to congress and getting an authorization. if he sought one, i think he would get it. what was problematic for obama and the reason obama could never get an authorization is because he was squeezed between two opposite sides. on one hand there were a whole bunch of anti-war doves who did not want to authorize any military action at all because they were sick and tired o...

Coalition to get half of congress to give him a kind of broad authority here. that's the kind of authority that obama really never wanted but i think trump probably wants it. >> karen, i was exploring this point earlier about how the middle east is different. both parties were saying it's a mess over there. we're going to use drones, war-making authority wherever we want. putting syria to the side, president obama taking a lot of flak over the red line, but folks will remember he was bombing five-plus middle eastern countries with drones and being very aggressive. here was lindsey graham on ba...