Trump contradicts Rubio on why US struck Iran, ‘They were going to attack’

President Trump is offering a new explanation for why the United States launched strikes on Iran

one that differs from what we heard from his own administration just a day earlier

In the Oval Office Tuesday, the president pushed back on the idea that Israel forced his hand

and offered his own justification for the timing of the strikes. Watch

Mr. President, did Israel force your hand to launch these strikes against Iran

Did Netanyahu pull the United States into this war? No, I might have forced their hand

You see, we were having negotiations with these lunatics, and it was my opinion that they were going to attack first

They were going to attack. If we didn't do it, they were going to attack first

I felt strongly about that. That framing contrasts with what Secretary of State Marco Rubio told lawmakers

and later reporters on Monday when he laid out the administration's initial rationale for acting

when it did. Here's what he had to say then. We knew that there was going to be an Israeli action

We knew that that would precipitate an attack against American forces. And we knew that if we

didn't preemptively go after them before they launched those attacks, we would suffer higher

casualties and perhaps even higher those killed. After the president's remarks, Defense Secretary

Pete Hegseth weighed in on social media, backing the president's explanation, saying he was 100

correct Later Tuesday Rubio pushed back on the idea that his earlier comments conflicted with the president insisting he was talking about timing not intent Listen

This was a question of timing, of why this had to happen as a joint operation, not the question of the intent. Once the president made a decision that negotiations were not going

to work, that they were playing us on the negotiations, and that this was a threat that

was untenable, the decision was made to strike them. That's what I said yesterday, and you guys

need to play it. If you're going to play these statements, you need to play the whole statement, Not clip it to reach a narrative that you want to do. All right

Meanwhile, the administration's formal letter to Congress cites broader national security interests

including protecting American forces and advancing American strategic objectives in the region

Democrats say the shifting explanations are raising concerns. Here's Chuck Schumer. The American people do not want an endless war

The administration doesn't seem to know what it's doing. Every hour there's a different rationale as to why we're doing this

And America wants this president to pay attention to the problems at home, not the problems overseas

particularly when no one has any idea of what the real rationale is

It changes every hour. All of this is unfolding as the conflict widens

And Congress prepares to vote on whether the president needs authorization to continue military action

The central question now, what intelligence underpins the president's assertion that Iran was going to launch a strike first