ayatollah.ayatolla ayatollah. i think it s ironic to make common cause with the hardliners in iran. it s an unusual coalition. reporter: the surprising move was led by senator tom cotton who today defended it. the only thing unprecedented is an american president negotiating a nuclear deal with the world s leading sponsor of state terrorism without submitting it to congress. reporter: democrats wasted to time as pouncing on this as a ploy. juvenile political, pettiness that did i that diminishes. reporter: it highlight our divisions. this a military response to iran developing their nuclear capability becomes more likely. these represent senators should
up legislation, though unsuccessfully to give them a vote on any nuclear deal with iran. now, they have written this unprecedented open letter to iran. the response came quickly from the white house and democrats who call what they are trying to do basically amounting to a back channel communication with iranian hardliners. 47 republican senators put their names today to this open letter to iran informing iran that it may not fully understand our constitutional system and a warning that the senate must ratify international agreements which isn t the case for a deal like this and they go on to say that any nuclear agreement not voted in by congress will be viewed as nothing more than an executive agreement between president obama and the eye ya
he had no idea that that was what he was all about. he believes us now. and he disowns him. reporter: cornell faces several charges including attempted murder of government employees and in case you are wondering how he was able to make the phone call to the news station, he apparently according to the sheriff there has a cell phone inside his jail cell and can still make calls. he has no restrictions to who he can make calls to from that phone in his cell. very strange, indeed. good report, pamela. thank you very much. president obama slamming a letter to iran s leader signed by nearly every senate republican warning without their approval any nuclear deal signed by president could be null and void after he leaves office. let s go go to michelle can a sdin skichlt she s working the story for us. it s a stunning letter when you read it. what s the latest reaction over there? reporter: you know we have seen republicans and some members of congress try to bring
conduct foreign policy. not only is this a difference of policy but this is a fundamental misunderstanding about how the system works and who is responsible for the conduct american foreign pellolicy. explain why you think this is a misunderstanding of foreign policy. the constitution does give congress a right in certain areas. absolutely. congress has an oversight role. but in terms of the negotiation of agreements that s something that the president leads. we have agreemented eds that give our troops protections they need in afghanistan, the security agreement, at greedthe agreement to remove chemical weapons. these are things the president negotiates. congress has an oversight role to play. to insert themselves a negotiation to prevent this from getting reached, that s harmful. it s important to remember it s not just the united states in the negotiating table. it s the united states the u.k.
congress being involved. but again what you heard the prime minister say last week it s a bad deal. no there s no deal yet. why pour cold water on it before it s done. you lead the folks to believe you would be against any deal. we need to undertake diplomatic steps to see if we can end the iranian nuclear program. any second thoughts abyour decision last week to boycott that speech by the prime minister? the speech was very unfortunate. i went to visit prime minister netanyahu in his office six weeks ago to talk to him and others in the region about iran. i m deeply interested in what they have to say. but this was a speech that was fundamentally timed to try to influence the israeli elections. congress should never be used to try to put their thumb on a scale in a foreign election. that s the reason i didn t attend. tim kaine, the democrat