Harry Enten: “We have less than a month until the primary season, and it’s becoming more apparent that former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont are the candidates to beat. It’s not just that they are Nos. 1 and 2 in the national polling. It’s that each holds a lead on the two most important metrics beyond the polling: fundraising and endorsements.”
Iran Will Respond Against U.S. Military Sites
The military adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader told CNN that his country’s response to the killing by the United States of one its most influential commanders will certainly be a military response “against military sites.”
Biden Says Walls Are Closing In on Trump
Joe Biden lit into President Trump’s tweeting about the possibility of retaliating against Iran Saturday night, calling it “incredibly dangerous and irresponsible,” Politico reports.
Biden accused Trump of taking reckless action as “the walls close in on this guy.”
Democrats Sprint Towards ‘Jump Ball’ In Iowa
Washington Post: “After a year of campaigning, and with less than a month to go before the first and therefore most important single contest in the Democratic nomination fight, few if any are confident of the outcome. At least four candidates are seen as having a shot to win Iowa, or, alternatively, to suffer a crippling result that could hobble their campaigns going forward, especially if there is a late surge by a lower-tier contender.”
“The result is a hotly contested sprint to the Feb. 3 caucuses — a struggle that could either propel a clear winner into the next-voting states with momentum or open a months-long fight for the delegates needed to secure the party’s presidential nomination. Unlike past primaries, several of the top candidates are expected to have the financial resources and dedicated fan base to wage long campaigns even if they finish in the middle of the pack in Iowa.”
Officials ‘Stunned’ Trump Took Most Extreme Option
“In the chaotic days leading to the death of Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani, Iran’s most powerful commander, top American military officials put the option of killing him — which they viewed as the most extreme response to recent Iranian-led violence in Iraq — on the menu they presented to President Trump,” the New York Times reports.
“They didn’t think he would take it. In the wars waged since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, Pentagon officials have often offered improbable options to presidents to make other possibilities appear more palatable.”
“After initially rejecting the Suleimani option on Dec. 28 and authorizing airstrikes on an Iranian-backed Shia militia group instead, a few days later Mr. Trump watched, fuming, as television reports showed Iranian-backed attacks on the American Embassy in Baghdad… By late Thursday, the president had gone for the extreme option. Top Pentagon officials were stunned.”
Trump Threatens Hit of Iranian Sites
President Trump said the United States has targeted 52 Iranian sites and was prepared to strike “very fast and very hard” in the event Tehran retaliates for the killing of Gen. Qassem Soleimani, The Hill reports.
Politico: “Trump did not disclose which specific sites the U.S. has identified for possible strikes, however, the president’s indication the target list included sites of cultural significance drew an immediate outcry on social media.”
White House Notifies Congress of Soleimani Strike
“The White House delivered to Capitol Hill on Saturday a formal notification of the drone strike that killed Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani as required under the War Powers Act,” the Washington Post reports.
“The War Powers Act of 1973 mandates that the president report to lawmakers within 48 hours of introducing military forces into armed conflict abroad.”
Small Cracks Appear In GOP Unity on Impeachment
Associated Press: “For now, Republicans are holding the line behind Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s position that they should start the trial and hear arguments from House prosecutors and Trump’s defense team before deciding what to do.”
“But small cracks in GOP unity have appeared, with two Republican senators criticizing McConnell’s pledge of ‘total coordination’ with the White House during the impeachment trial.”
“Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski said she was ‘disturbed’ by the GOP leader’s comments, adding that there should be distance between the White House and the Senate on how the trial is conducted. Maine Sen. Susan Collins, meanwhile, called the pledge by McConnell, R-Ky., inappropriate and said she is open to seeking testimony.”
Impeachmints
Someone gave me these for Christmas: Impeachmints
The Soleimani Strike Defied the U.S. Constitution
Yale law professor Oona A. Hathaway writing in The Atlantic:
“The drone strike that killed Major General Qassem Soleimani, leader of the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, raises many legal issues, but one of the most significant—at least to the American constitutional order—is that President Donald Trump ordered the strike without so much as informing Democratic leadership in Congress, disregarding Congress’s essential role in initiating war.”
“If Congress fails to respond effectively, the constitutional order will be broken beyond repair, and the president will be left with the unmitigated power to take the country to war on his own—anywhere, anytime, for any reason.”
Erdogan Called Soleimani a ‘Martyr’
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan reportedly expressed his “regret” for the loss of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani in a call with his Iranian counterpart, Hassan Rouhani, days after Soleimani was killed in a U.S. airstrike, the Daily Beast reports.
According to RT, the Turkish President called Soleimani a “martyr” and said he understood the anger of Iran’s people and leaders.
Yang Will Wage Write-In Campaign In Ohio
Andrew Yang will launch a write-in campaign in Ohio after a “bureaucratic paperwork issue” prevented him from appearing on the presidential primary ballot, The Hill reports.
Trump Jr’s Book Reads Like a Campaign Book for 2024
The Washington Post reviews Donald Trump Jr.’s new book, Triggered, and notes it “fails as memoir and as polemic.”
“Its analysis is facile, its hypocrisy relentless, its self-awareness marginal. (The writing is wretched, even by the standards of political vanity projects.) But the point of Triggered is not autobiographical, literary or analytic, and it should not be read or evaluated on such grounds. Rather, the book is most useful as a preview of a possible Donald Trump Jr. 2024 presidential campaign, the contours of which grow clearer the deeper one wades into these pages.”
- Hardcover Book
- Trump Jr., Donald (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 304 Pages - 11/05/2019 (Publication Date) - Center Street (Publisher)
Tucker Carlson Breaks Ranks and Criticizes Trump Strikes
“On Friday afternoon President Trump praised Tucker Carlson along with other conservative Fox News stars,” CNN reports.
“A few hours later Carlson tore into Trump’s decision to authorize the US airstrike that killed Iran’s top general Qasem Soleimani. While he mostly refrained from criticized Trump directly, Carlson condemned ‘chest-beaters’ who advocate for foreign interventions.”
Trump Flouts Risks That Gave Others Pause
“President Trump is not the first American leader to have Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani in his sights, but he was the first to pull the trigger,” the AP reports.
“It’s a pattern that has emerged throughout Trump’s presidency. On a range of national security matters, he has cast aside the same warnings that gave his predecessors in both parties pause.”
“At times, he has simply been willing to embrace more risk. In other moments, he has questioned the validity of the warnings altogether, even from experts within his own administration. And he has publicly taken pride in doing so.”
Evidence Suggesting Imminent Attack Was ‘Razor Thin’
New York Times reporter Rukmini Callimachi:
“I’ve had a chance to check in with sources, including two US officials who had intelligence briefings after the strike on Suleimani. Here is what I’ve learned. According to them, the evidence suggesting there was to be an imminent attack on American targets is ‘razor thin’.”
More: “One official described the planning for the strike as chaotic. The official says that following the attack on an Iraqi base which killed an American contractor circa Dec. 27, Trump was presented a menu of options for how to retaliate. Killing Suleimani was the ‘far out option.'”
FBI Raids Home of Lobbyist Tied to Trump
Washington Post: “FBI agents investigating a lobbyist who has claimed to have close ties to President Trump and his family searched the man’s Northern Virginia home and D.C. office early Thursday looking for evidence of possible fraud.”
Oil Companies Tighten Security
Wall Street Journal: “Oil companies in the Middle East are tightening security as U.S. officials say American energy infrastructure in the region is a likely target for Iranian retaliation following the killing by the U.S. of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander Qassem Soleimani.”