Ron Hansen [3/4/26]

Read the article here.

Sen. Ruben Gallego condemned the State Department as “powerless” to help most Americans stranded in the Middle East while noting help for “Trump-aligned social media influencers” in escaping the region.

In a March 4 letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Gallego, D-Arizona, said his agency had failed to prepare for the foreseeable need to help Americans leave an area where air travel became an early casualty of the hostilities between the U.S. and Iran.

The letter adds to Democratic criticism heaped on Rubio and the broader Trump administration for military action they see as lacking clear justification, poorly planned and ill-defined.

It also was part of broader Democratic efforts against the U.S.-Iranian conflict.

Senate Democrats tried and failed March 4 to effectively end the U.S. strikes on Iran unless Congress approves them. By a 47-53 vote, Senate Republicans blocked the measure led by Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Virginia.

Gallego and Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Arizona, both voted to proceed to a vote on Kaine’s resolution. Notably, Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pennsylvania, sided with most in the GOP, while Sen. Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, sided with the Democrats.

“Issuing a blanket advisory (to leave the Middle East) while providing no concrete evacuation options is unacceptable,” Gallego wrote in his letter to Rubio. “The U.S. government’s first obligation is to protect the lives and safety of its citizens, especially when its own foreign policy and military decisions materially increase the risks those citizens face.


“The Administration’s failure to execute (or even develop) a coherent plan for evacuating Americans from the conflict zone is tantamount to abandonment, particularly in the case of hostilities with an adversary notorious for targeting Americans abroad.”

By contrast, Alex Bruesewitz, an ally and adviser to President Donald Trump, and TikTok personality and Dallas dog walker Sarah Gaither managed to escape Qatar by chartering a private jet with help from unnamed White House officials and Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Florida, Politico reported.

That incident shows “the administration is perfectly capable of protecting those with means and connections to the White House, while leaving the remaining population of Americans stranded abroad to fend for themselves,” Gallego wrote.

On March 4, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt emphasized the administration’s ongoing efforts to help Americans abroad as it continues to dismantle Iran’s terrorism capacity.


“Since the launch of Operation Epic Fury, more than 17,500 Americans have been safely returned home from the Middle East, with over 8,500 American citizens returning home to the U.S. yesterday alone,” she said. “The administration is already chartering flights, free of charge, and booking commercial options, which we expect will become increasingly available as time goes on.

“I know the president and Secretary of State Rubio have been in touch with our allies in the region, making it clear that bringing every American home who wants to come home is a top priority.”

Rubio has urged the media to disseminate information to help affected Americans contact the State Department to help facilitate their departure from the Middle East. People in that region can enroll for security updates at https://step.state.gov and can call 1-202-501-4444 or 1-888-407-4747 for consular assistance.

At the same time, Rubio’s explanation for the U.S. strikes, saying, “This operation needed to happen,” has drawn Democratic criticism.

Rubio has said that Israel’s plans to attack Iran would have inevitably led to Iranian attacks on Americans, requiring a preemptive strike.

“We knew there was going to be an Israeli action,” he told reporters March 3. “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 these attacks, we would suffer higher casualties.”

From the outset of the Feb. 28 strikes in Iran that killed that country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, both Gallego and Kelly have prominently cast the strikes as poorly planned and based on “inflated claims” against the Iranian regime.

Kelly explained his vote to support the Democrats’ war powers resolution in a social media post.

“The reason I did that was to rein in this president. Over the past few days, we’ve heard constantly changing explanations for why this war began, and what the goal is and how long it’s going to last,” Kelly said.

“That’s dangerous. The American people, they don’t want to get stuck in another long, bloody war that doesn’t accomplish anything.”

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, was among those who spoke out against the resolution on the Senate floor. He cited the 1979 U.S. hostage crisis in Iran and attributed the 1983 truck bombings in Lebanon that killed 241, most of them U.S. Marines, to Iranian proxies.

“We’re here to settle the account with the Iranian regime,” Graham said. “These people are fanatics. They throw gay people off of buildings. They will not tolerate any other form of religion. They killed 32,000 people in the last couple of months who have had it with the ayatollah.”

The Iranian economy is broken and its government could not be trusted to be U.S. allies, as recent negotiations made clear, he said.

Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, said Democratic presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden pursued “appeasement” strategies that in recent years effectively funded proxy terrorism by Iran.

“Enough is enough,” she said. “This weekend President Trump took decisive action so that neither Iran nor its proxies can ever take another one of our citizens’ lives. The objective is clear: Ensure no American has to live under the threat of Iran-backed terror again.”