Rep. Adam Kinzinger said Wednesday he's "fully convinced" President Donald Trump took the right action when ordering the airstrike to kill Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani after hearing the evidence key administration members presented to Congress.
"After 10 years of being here, it was the most revealing classified briefing, we've had in a large setting like that," the Illinois Republican told Fox News' "Daily Briefing." "There was a lot of information revealed that I can't get into, but I'm convinced more than ever, and I was fully convinced, (this was) to save American lives on an imminent basis, and they did the right thing."
However, he said he was annoyed with Democrats who could not take "yes or no or whatever it is" for an answer to their concerns.
"I think they invested in this strike before knowing the intelligence, and they couldn't be convinced,' Kinzinger said. "It's being political so quickly, and I hope that changes."
Earlier in the day, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-NY, complained that "cowboy diplomacy" was at play in the Middle East in Iraq and Americans are being put in harm's way unnecessarily, when that kind of plan did not work in Vietnam and Iraq.
"Whatever is happening is not cowboy diplomacy, and you've seen from the last administration that really we would be almost out of this Iran deal," said Kinzinger. "I was critical to when the president didn't respond to the Saudi strike...if you are unconvinced of the necessity of this than I think you are unwilling to listen."
Trump also has exercised restraint with Iran, said Kinzinger, who added that he did not agree with other decisions to not take action against the regime.
"We will tell if deterrence has been restored, but it certainly will make the rich Iranian regime think twice about doing this," said Kinzinger. "We didn't kill 100 people operating a surface-to-air missile battery, we killed the guy himself in Iraq."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.