Story highlights The Trump administration said the Syrian strike was legal under the president's authority to defend US interests

The letter underscores tensions among Democrats over Trump's foreign policy and use of military force

(CNN) Two top Democrats are demanding the White House provide legal justification for the missile strikes against the Syrian government earlier this month.

Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine and California Rep. Adam Schiff wrote a letter to President Donald Trump on Monday requesting the White House provide the legal basis for the attack on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime when Congress has the constitutional role of declaring war.

"It has now been over two weeks since you ordered the strike on the airfield, and your Administration has yet to put forward any detailed legal analysis or justification for that action under domestic and international law," the Democrats wrote.

"The legal justification for an attack on the Syrian government is not an afterthought, but rather a first order consideration, and something that is vital for the American people to understand at the outset," they added.

The Trump administration has asserted that the Syrian strike — where US warships hit a Syrian airbase with 57 Tomahawk missiles in response to a chemical weapons attack on Syrian civilians — was legal under the President's authority to defend US interests.

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