WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, 28 organizations – including 13 based in New York and additional national organizations with chapters in New York – sent a letter calling on Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY) to retract his recent comments misportraying and attacking President Trump’s ongoing nuclear negotiations with Iran.
In a video posted to social media on June 2, 2025, Senator Schumer criticized and called President Trump’s ongoing efforts to negotiate and secure a nuclear deal with Iran a “secret side deal” that “lets Iran get away with everything,” echoing the same bad-faith tactics once used by Congressional Republicans to try to derail President Obama’s own nuclear diplomacy.
In the letter, the signers rebuked Schumer’s approach as “profoundly reckless,” urging him to retract the video and “move in line with the vast majority of Americans who support a deal with Iran and oppose a disastrous war.”
The letter stresses that while Democrats may have valid concerns about Trump’s diplomatic process or lack of transparency, Sen. Schumer chose to engage in bad faith efforts that make a deal less likely and push the U.S. toward war. “Rather than offer valid criticism or warn about the risks of war that the majority of Americans desperately want to avoid, you chose to argue that the real danger is if Trump chickens out on some of his hardline demands,” the letter states.
The signers call on Schumer to either support diplomacy and peace, or step aside: “If Democrats want to be a party that delivers for Americans, they cannot continue this negligent abandonment of the pro-peace lane to the Republican party… If you cannot provide this leadership, we urge you to step down in favor of someone who can.”
The full text of the letter is included below: