WASHINGTON — Representative Doug Collins of Georgia apologized on Friday for accusing Democrats of being “in love with terrorists,” a claim he hurled during a bitterly partisan dispute over whether to curtail President Trump’s war-making power in Iran.
“Let me be clear: I do not believe Democrats are in love with terrorists, and I apologize for what I said earlier this week,” Mr. Collins, the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee, wrote on Twitter.
Mr. Collins, a strident ally of the president and a leading force in his impeachment defense in the House, made the remarks in a television interview this week as the House was preparing to debate a Democratic-led resolution to force Mr. Trump to go to Congress for authorization before taking further military action against Iran.
“Nancy Pelosi does it again, and her Democrats fall right in line,” Mr. Collins told the TV host Lou Dobbs of Fox Business Network on Wednesday night. “One, they are in love with terrorists, we see that. They mourn Suleimani more than they mourn our Gold Star families who are the ones who suffered under Suleimani. That’s a problem.”
He was referring to Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani, Iran’s top security commander, who was killed in a drone strike ordered last week by Mr. Trump, escalating tensions and raising questions on Capitol Hill about whether the president was marching toward a war without consulting Congress.
Mr. Collins’s comments drew an instant backlash from Democrats. Senator Tammy Duckworth of Illinois, a combat veteran who lost both legs serving in Iraq, said she was “disgusted” by the accusation.
“I left parts of my body in Iraq fighting terrorists,” Ms. Duckworth said on CNN. “I don’t need to justify myself to anyone.”
Mr. Collins incendiary remarks were a more fiery version of the message that members of Mr. Trump’s national security team had delivered behind closed doors when they briefed lawmakers this week on the strike on General Suleimani on Capitol Hill.
According to attendees, the officials, including Mike Pompeo, the secretary of state, and Mark T. Esper, the secretary of defense, cautioned them against questioning the president’s judgment on Iran, arguing it could embolden the Iranians. Senator Mike Lee, Republican of Utah, was infuriated by the assertion, calling it “insulting and demeaning,” and later telling reporters that it had prompted him to support a Senate proposal similar to the war powers resolution the House voted on this week.
The House approved that resolution on Thursday mostly along party lines, but not before an acrimonious debate in which Democratic leaders repeatedly interjected to remind lawmakers not to question each others’ patriotism.
Mr. Trump set the tone for Republicans early in the day, claiming that Democrats were effectively supporting Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani, Iran’s top security commander, who was killed last week in a drone strike he authorized, by raising concerns about his actions.
“Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats wanted to defend him,” Mr. Trump said, despite the fact that neither had done so. “I think that’s a very bad thing for this country.”
Earlier on Thursday, Ms. Pelosi made a point of insisting that General Suleimani was a “terrible person.”
In his apology the next day, Mr. Collins cited his own service in Iraq in 2008, as a chaplain in the Air Force Reserve, saying that he had “witnessed firsthand the brutal death of countless soldiers who were torn to shreds by this vicious terrorist.”
“These images will live with me for the rest of my life,” he said, “but that does not excuse my response on Wednesday evening.”