Trump's Iran intel wasn't exaggerated, Dems 'dead wrong' if they think so: top GOP lawmaker

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Sen. James Risch on claims Trump administration exaggerated threat from Iran: Democrats are dead wrong

Anyone who says Iran wasn't 'turning up the temperature' in the region simply doesn't know anything about intelligence, says Idaho Senator James Risch, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Democrats are "dead wrong" if they believe the White House overemphasized intelligence regarding potential threats from Iran, according to a top Republican senator.

Host Harris Faulkner asked Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman James Risch on "Outnumbered Overtime" whether Democrats' claims the Trump administration "exaggerated" Iran intelligence are grounded in fact.

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"The Democrats are dead wrong on that," Sen. Risch, R-Idaho, said, adding that he and other top lawmakers have been following the relevant intelligence for some time.

Risch went on to say that the Trump administration has been taking responsible steps in return to handle the potential threats.

The administration sent Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Joseph Dunford to brief lawmakers Tuesday on escalating tensions with Tehran.

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"Our efforts and our ultimate objective over the past days has been to deter Iran," Pompeo said.

However, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., one of the most vocal critics of potential military action in Iran, said going to war in Iran would be "far worse than the war with Iraq."

“We were lied to in terms of Iraq supposedly having weapons of mass destruction," Sanders, a 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, said. "A war with Iran would be an absolute disaster, far worse than the war with Iraq. I hope the people tell this administration that we will not go to war in Iran.”

Risch said recent Iran intelligence shows that the "velocity" of certain events has increased.

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"Anyone who would say the Iranians were not turning up the temperatures in the last two weeks of April and the first week in May simply doesn't know anything about intelligence," Risch said.

He said that if lawmakers in the closed-door meetings with Pompeo and the other officials didn't come away thinking that a "serious situation was defused by some very professional work," they "just don't get it."

Fox News' Alex Pappas contributed to this report.