Just days after President Trump’s destruction of three Iranian nuclear production sites, Arizona State Representative John Gillette (R-30) is calling out four Democratic lawmakers for what he describes as “dangerous and irresponsible” reactions in a scathing response to a June 24, 2025, press release. Gillette accused the four Democrats, including Sen. Analise Ortiz (D-24) and Reps. Mariana Sandoval (D-23), Lorena Austin (D-9), and Cesar Aguilar (D-26) of siding with America’s enemies.

“Their statement is not only dangerous and irresponsible—it is a blatant show of sympathy for the world’s leading sponsor of terrorism, the Iranian regime and its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC),” Gillette said.

Gillette, a proud Army veteran who served 35 years and achieved the rank of Command Sergeant Major, brings a lifetime of military and law enforcement experience to the Arizona Legislature. He served multiple combat deployments overseas, led thousands of troops, and earned numerous commendations for leadership and valor. After retiring from military service, Gillette worked as a sheriff’s deputy and tactical SWAT officer in Illinois, where he was awarded for solving a complex homicide case.

Gillette’s public service background gives him a unique perspective on issues of national defense that he says is sorely lacking in the response to the Iran strike made by his colleagues.

“These lawmakers appear more outraged by the United States defending its citizens than they are about Iran’s decades of terror,” Gillette stated. “Their language mirrors that of Iran’s leadership, not America’s.”

In his statement, Gillette laid out a chilling history of the IRGC’s actions:

• 1983 Beirut barracks bombing – 241 U.S. service members killed
• 1996 Khobar Towers bombing – 19 U.S. Airmen killed
• Provision of EFPs (Explosively Formed Penetrators) to Iraqi insurgents from 2003–2011, killing hundreds of Americans
• Support for terrorist militias like Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Houthis, responsible for attacks on U.S. forces
• 2020 coordinated attack on the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad
• Ongoing drone and missile strikes against American troops in Syria, Iraq, and the Red Sea from 2023 to 2025
• The 2016 seizure of U.S. Navy sailors, which Gillette called “a national humiliation exploited by Iran for propaganda”

“The IRGC has American blood on its hands,” he said. “To issue a press release that condemns America’s response while ignoring this terrorist history is appalling.”

Gillette emphasized the legality of the U.S. strike, defending it under Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution.

“The President has the inherent authority to protect U.S. forces and interests from imminent threats. Waiting for Congress while American troops are being targeted is not leadership—it’s surrender,” he added.

Gillette also criticized the lawmakers’ political affiliations, noting that all four are endorsed by the Working Families Party (WFP), a group he described as “a modern extension of socialist and communist organizing in America.”

“Their [WFP’s] platform includes defunding police, dismantling capitalism, and pushing DEI policies that elevate ideology over security,” Gillette said. “These Democrats have shown they prioritize illegal aliens over legal citizens, the Iranian regime over our troops, and woke agendas over public safety.”

Gillette warned that such rhetoric sends the wrong message, stating, “To undermine a defensive action against Iranian military targets is to side with a radical theocracy that openly chants ‘Death to America.’ Arizona voters should take note.”

He ended with a call to action, advising, “We must reject this kind of weakness and radicalism. Arizona deserves leaders who will stand with our service members, defend the Constitution, and speak with moral clarity in the face of terror, not issue press releases appeasing enemies of the United States.”

You can read the statement by the four Democrats here.