Vice President Mike Pence Thursday defended the Trump administration's congressional briefing about the death of Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani from critics, including Republican Sen. Mike Lee, who said lawmakers did not get enough information about President Donald Trump's decision to take him out.
"To protect sources and methods, we're not able to share with every member of the House and Senate the intelligence that supported the president's decision," Pence told Fox News' Brian Kilmeade in a "Fox and Friends" interview. "I can assure your viewers there was a threat of an imminent attack."
Pence said that after the airstrikes Trump ordered on five militia bases in response to the Dec. 27 military base attack that killed an American contractor and injured troops, intelligence reports showed Soleimani was traveling and making preparations for a larger attack on American forces and personnel.
"It was real-time information that was developed," said Pence. "The leadership in Congress and the House and Senate has seen this intelligence. And, frankly, the most compelling intelligence to support the fact that there was an imminent attack being planned by Qassem Soleimani is too sensitive to share broadly. It would compromise what we call sources and methods."
The information was brought to Trump, he added, and he "couldn't be more proud" to serve alongside Trump, who acted to take out the Iranian general.
"He took him out, then we took measures to protect our forces in the region...and Iran is standing down," said Pence.
Lee, R-Utah, however, was livid after the 75-minute briefing Wednesday, calling it the "worst" he's seen on a military issue in the nine years that he's been in the Senate.
"What I found so distressing about that briefing, was that one of the messages that we received from the briefers was 'do not debate, do not discuss the appropriateness of further military intervention against Iran – and if you do, you will be emboldening Iran," Lee told reporters. "I find this insulting and demeaning."
Pence told Kilmeade that he and Trump have "immense respect" for Lee as a "great conservative and great leader," but they have differences in Middle East policy.
"I know Mike and Sen. Rand Paul oppose the self-defense actions that we have taken in Yemen," said Pence.
The vice president, also appearing on NBC's "Today," told anchor Savannah Guthrie that the administration will welcome such debates going forward, but "those of us that have seen all the evidence, that saw the evidence in real-time, know that President Trump made the right decision...America is safer."
Pence Thursday also told Kilmeade that the administration is "confident" that support will come from NATO where Iran is concerned.
"Our operation in Iraq is in part a NATO operation, as it is in Afghanistan," Pence said. "The president is going to make it clear to our NATO allies that they need to step up more in the region and beyond that."
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.