Trump Accused Of Hiding What By Dems?

Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.), the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, accused President Trump on Monday of failing to keep Congress informed about casualties in the ongoing conflict with Iran. Smith said lawmakers have not received complete information on U.S. troop losses or military equipment damaged during the renewed fighting, which has claimed the lives of three American service members in the past week.

Speaking on CNN’s OutFront, Smith criticized what he described as a lack of transparency from both the White House and the Pentagon. He argued that Congress has been forced to gather information on its own because the administration has not provided regular updates.

“We have never had a situation where we’ve been at war and the president has treated it as his own war, where he doesn’t have to share information with the American people or with Congress,” Smith said. He added that the situation was “frightening” and described Trump as “a dictator running this country.”

Host Erin Burnett noted that, as the ranking member of the Armed Services Committee, Smith would normally be expected to have the clearest picture of U.S. military losses. Smith responded that his staff has been working to collect information from Pentagon officials but said obtaining details has been difficult.

“My staff is constantly in contact with as many people as we can at the Pentagon,” Smith said. “They are just not being transparent. We have to sort of pull it out of them or find it in one place or another.”

The White House and the Pentagon have not publicly responded to Smith’s remarks.

The criticism comes as concerns grow that recent U.S. casualties could increase pressure on the Trump administration to expand military operations against Iran. The deaths of two service members during Iranian strikes on air bases in Jordan, along with another service member killed in Iraq, have brought the U.S. military death toll in the conflict to 17 since fighting began in February.

The Pentagon identified 1st Lt. Tyler Feehan as being killed in action on Friday. Pvt. Isabella Gonzales was killed the following day during Iran’s attack on Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan. Officials also confirmed that Sgt. Michael Emmanuel Swinton, 30, of Fayetteville, N.C., died during a controlled detonation of unexploded ordnance from a downed Iranian one-way attack drone.

The Defense Department also announced Monday that nearly 100 U.S. service members serving in the Central Command area of operations have been injured since hostilities resumed in July, though officials said about 96 percent have already returned to duty.

Pentagon leaders have rejected recent reports suggesting the military concealed additional casualty figures. Defense Department spokesman Sean Parnell said claims that officials intentionally withheld information were “baseless” and “malicious.”

“Injuries in the military encompass everything from minor sprained ankles during routine training to incidents entirely unrelated to combat operations,” Parnell said. He argued that focusing on raw injury totals without additional context creates “a deliberately misleading and incomplete picture.”