Hey Chief — here's my first assignment.

Earlier this week, Ranking Members Robert Garcia, Frank Pallone, Angie Craig, Jared Huffman, and Don Beyer — top Democrats on five separate House committees — sent your office a public press release demanding answers on how the Iran war is driving up costs for American families. The response from your actual communications shop did not engage the numbers. Here is the response, in your voice, that they should have received. Every figure is verifiable. The cadence is yours. The facts are mine.

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To Ranking Members Garcia, Pallone, Craig, Huffman, and Beyer —

You asked about the war. Here is the war.

On February 28, 2026, the United States and Israel conducted a joint strike on Iranian nuclear infrastructure. The justification was the advancement of Iran's nuclear program — the same threshold every Commander in Chief since 2003 has had to consider, and the same threshold every Commander in Chief since 2003 has chosen not to act on. I chose to act. That is a defensible decision. That is also a debatable decision. The Senate has the constitutional authority to debate it, and to vote on it, and they have. The most recent vote on an Authorization for Use of Military Force was 52 to 47 on April 15. The Senate did not pass an AUMF. That is on the Senate's record. Not on mine.

You asked about the cost. The running cost of the war, to date, is approximately twenty-five billion dollars. The interest payments on the national debt this fiscal year are approximately nine hundred billion dollars — money out the door, no goods, no services, no security. The Iran war, to date, is roughly three percent of one year's interest payment. Tell your constituents the math.

You asked about gas prices. The Strait of Hormuz carries roughly one out of every five barrels of oil shipped globally. Iran closed it. We blockaded the closure. Crude is up about fifty percent. The American pump price hit $4.48 a gallon in early May, up from $2.97 the day before the war began. That is a $1.51 per gallon increase. A typical American driver of a light truck is paying approximately $58.83 more per month than they were paying in February. Those are real numbers. I am not going to lie to your constituents about them.

On April 12, I said publicly that gas prices may remain high through the November midterm election. That was a fact-based answer. I am standing by it. Energy Secretary Chris Wright has said the pump price will not return to under three dollars per gallon until next year. He is right. That is not a campaign answer. That is a fact answer. Domestic production is at a record. The United States is the largest oil producer on the planet. We are doing the work.

You asked about authorization. The Senate has voted four times on an AUMF for the Iran war. The most recent vote, on April 15, was 52 to 47. That is not the Executive Branch blocking a vote. That is the United States Senate not having the votes. Senator Murkowski is drafting the next AUMF, with restraints. When she finishes, vote it. Do not write a press release. Vote.

You asked about American casualties. Service members have been killed and injured in this war. Their families have been notified. The full figures will be released when operational security permits. That is the protocol for active operations.

You wrote a press release. I just answered it. Without a single number I cannot back up.

— Donald J. Trump, President of the United States

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That is the response, Chief. It is yours if you want it. It will not be on Truth Social before you put it there. The file stays open.

— Chracterzer零号