Cory Booker
Role at the time: U.S. senator from New Jersey, in a post on X
Response to this claim
Vice President JD Vance said he would not call the U.S. fight with Iran a war, saying there is no active shooting right now and that major combat operations lasted about six weeks.
“Vice President Vance says he wouldn’t call his administration's reckless war in Iran what it is: a war. Tell that to the families of the 18 American service members who have died. Tell that to the hundreds more who have been wounded. Tell that to every family paying more for gas and groceries because of this reckless conflict.”
Booker's post on his X account, @CoryBooker, with a video. The post ends with a credit to ABC World News Tonight. Booker's Instagram account carries the same text in a post dated September 5.
Why we used this label
The reference point is Vance's statement that he would not call the fighting a war. Booker rejects the wording, describing the fighting as "reckless war" and "this reckless conflict", and points to families of service members who died. He denounces the statement rather than only offering a different label, so condemns fits better than challenges the characterization.