Lawrence: Even Donald Trump seems to know that his war in Iran is now illegal

The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell

Lawrence O'Donnell, MS NOW

Washington, Policy, Politics, President, News, Versant Media, Ms Now, Congress, Versant, Senate, Government

4.5 • 6.4K Ratings

🗓️ 5 May 2026

⏱️ 40 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Tonight on The Last Word: Donald Trump contradicts himself again on making a deal with Iran. Also, The Washington Post reports White House lawyers are preparing the Trump administration for a Democratic majority. And the Supreme Court guts Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act in a new ruling. Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling (ret.), Rep. Robert Garcia, and Professor Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw join Lawrence O’Donnell.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Well, on day 65 of Donald Trump's illegal war, Donald Trump threatened another war crime,
0:05.8	this time telling a Fox reporter in a telephone interview that Iran will be, quote, blown off
0:12.5	the face of the earth if Iran attacks United States Navy ships in the region.
0:20.0	Donald Trump's war became fully illegal last week,
0:23.9	and Donald Trump seems to know that. What they call a military operation, you know, they don't
0:32.6	like the word war, and they call it a military operation because that way you don't have a war, you don't have
0:39.6	legal problems.
0:42.6	Legal problems.
0:44.4	That was day 62 of Donald Trump's war, and he had a legal problem.
0:50.4	By the time Donald Trump said that, even Donald Trump seemed to know that the War Powers Act passed in 1973 made Donald Trump's war illegal last week.
1:03.0	The War Powers Act says that the president can launch military operations for a maximum of 60 days, quote, unless the Congress has declared war or has enacted a specific
1:17.2	authorization for such use of United States Armed Forces. And today, on the 65th day of
1:26.0	Donald Trump's illegal war, he chose this childish language to continue his violation of the War Powers Act.
1:37.2	Our country's booming now, despite the fact that we're in a, I call it a mini-war. A mini-war.
1:45.8	On Friday, Donald Trump described his defiance of the War Powers Act
1:49.7	without ever specifically mentioning the War Powers Act.
1:56.3	But you ever hear a situation where we're knocking the hell out of somebody
2:00.6	and we have a Congress, please, you've only got three days left?
2:03.7	We spend 19 years in Vietnam.
2:06.0	We spent 12 years in Iraq.
2:09.1	We spent seven years in another place, two years and another one, seven years and another one.
2:14.8	We had another one for 14 years, and we're in there for six weeks.
	...

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