Pentagon policy chief Elbridge Colby faced tough questions Thursday about President Donald Trump's previous statements about war with Iran.
While Colby was testifying before the House Armed Services Committee, the Democratic ranking member said that the president broke his campaign promise.
Colby appeared before the House Armed Services Committee on Thursday to testify about the recently-released 2026 National Defense Strategy (NDS). Several lawmakers focused on the U.S.'s Operation Epic Fury, as U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran continue.
"When President Trump was running for office, he said over and over and over again, 'I'm not going to do wars.' In fact, he very specifically said, 'If I'm president, we will not go to war with Iran.' And here we are. So I'm genuinely curious what changed? What changed from when he was a candidate to when he was in office?" Ranking Member Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., said.
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Smith later asked Colby the question, saying that Trump had routinely implied that "his mere presence and his policies" could prevent wars as part of his "America First agenda." The lawmaker then wondered how that agenda allegedly failed in Iran.
"I think the president sincerely meant that. He sincerely meant, 'you put me in office, I'm going to do things to make sure that we don't go to war with Iran.' He failed. We're at war with Iran," Smith said.
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Colby pushed back, saying he did not think that the agenda had failed in Iran, noting Trump's consistency in opposing Iran's development of nuclear weapons. However, the ranking member would not accept that answer and retorted, once again bringing up the president's statements about not going to war.
The Pentagon policy chief later brought up the president's commitment to "peace through strength," citing the peace deals Trump has struck, such as the one in Gaza, as examples of "peace" and saying that what was happening in Iran was the "strength" part.
The lawmaker accepted Colby's answer as "solid enough" before saying that there was "no question that he failed" in light of the launch of Operation Epic Fury.
Colby was not the only one to refute the argument that Trump broke promises by acting in Iran. Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., said that under Trump's leadership, "we're preventing endless wars."
Another lawmaker, Rep. Richard McCormick, R-Ga., asked Colby whether he would consider what is happening in Iran to be "a forever war," to which the Pentagon official said, "No, sir."
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"President Trump’s courageous decision to launch Operation Epic Fury is grounded in a truth that presidents for nearly 50 years have been talking about, but no president had the courage to confront: Iran poses a direct and imminent threat to the United States of America and our troops in the Middle East," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News Digital.
"The rogue Iranian Regime under the evil hand of the Ayatollah has killed and maimed thousands of American citizens and soldiers over the years — and that ends with President Trump," she added.
Throughout his presidential campaign, Trump said that he would not drag the U.S. into endless wars and also spoke against Iran having a nuclear weapon.
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