memeorandum: United Methodist Church is expected to split over gay marriage, fracturing the nation's third-largest denomination (Julie Zauzmer/Washington Post)

4:00 PM ET, January 3, 2020

Top Items:

Pelosi Statement on Airstrike in Iraq Against High-Level Iranian Military Officials — Washington, D.C. - Speaker Nancy Pelosi issued this statement after the Trump Administration conducted a deadly airstrike targeting Iranians and Iraqis at the Baghdad International Airport:

Discussion: NBC News, Redstate, CNN, The Hill, Politico, Mother Jones, Vanity Fair, ABC News, Washington Post, Vox, NPR, VICE, CNBC, Breitbart, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, National Review, Daily Kos, The Week, The American Independent, TheBlaze, WND, Financial Times, Al Jazeera, Reuters, IJR and Daily Sounder

Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:

Trump Thinks Attacking Iran Will Get Him Reelected. He's Wrong. — Beginning in 2011, and continuing through the next year, Donald Trump began obsessively predicting that President Obama would start a war with Iran in order to be reelected. Trump stated it publicly, on at least a half-dozen occasions …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, No More Mister Nice Blog, New York Times, Reason and Radio Free Europe/Radio …

Mehdi Hasan / The Intercept:

Four Years Ago, Trump Had No Clue Who Iran's Suleimani Was. Now He May Have Kicked Off WWIII. — President Donald Trump makes a video call to the troops stationed worldwide at the Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla., on Dec. 24, 2019. — Photo: Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images

Discussion: New York Times, Associated Press, FOX31 Denver, DNyuz, LabourList and CNN

Ryan C. Brooks / BuzzFeed News:

Trump's Strike Has Drawn A Sharp Line Between The Democrats Running For President — The Democratic presidential candidates have split into an anti-war camp, led by Bernie Sanders, and a set of more nuanced responses to the killing of a key Iranian official, a rare and sharp contrast inside …

Discussion: IJR and The Week

Robin Wright / New Yorker:

The Killing of Qassem Suleimani Is Tantamount to an Act of War — On orders from President Trump, the United States killed Major General Qassem Suleimani, the leader of Iran's élite Quds Force and the mastermind of its military operations across the Middle East, in an overnight air strike at Baghdad's International Airport.

Discussion: Mother Jones, The Guardian, Washington Post, VICE, Associated Press, USA Today and The American Independent, more at Mediagazer »

U.S. Embassy / U.S. Embassy & Consulates in Iraq:

Security Alert - U.S. Embassy Baghdad, Iraq, January 3, 2020 — Home الصفح ة الرئي سية | Security Alert - U.S. Embassy Baghdad, Iraq, January 3, 2020 — Event: Due to heightened tensions in Iraq and the region …

Discussion: CNN, Associated Press, Daily Kos, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE, Gizmodo, KTLA, Talking Points Memo, DNyuz, Sara A. Carter, WTVR-TV and Task & Purpose

George Packer / The Atlantic:

Killing Soleimani Was Worse Than a Crime — There was a case for killing Major General Qassem Soleimani. For two decades, as the commander of the Revolutionary Guards' Quds Force, he executed Iran's long game of strategic depth in the Middle East—arming and guiding proxy militias in Lebanon …

Discussion: Los Angeles Times and Associated Press

Mohammad Ali Shabani / The Guardian:

Donald Trump's assassination of Qassem Suleimani will come back to haunt him — The Quds force leader had the status of national hero even among secular Iranians. His death could act as a rallying cry — The US has assassinated Qassem Suleimani, the famed leader of Iran's Quds force …

Discussion: DNyuz

Wesley Clark / Washington Post:

Killing a top Iranian military leader was a whack-for-tat move — Soleimani was no stateless outlaw like Osama bin Laden. This U.S. action sets us on a dangerous path of escalation. — Like the killing of Osama bin Laden, the strike on Iranian Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani in Baghdad …

Discussion: The Times of Israel, The Guardian, The Atlantic and Faithwire, more at Mediagazer »

Associated Press:

Trump says Iranian should have been ‘taken out’ years ago — PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President Donald Trump said Friday that the targeted killing of Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani was ordered because he was “plotting to kill” many Americans. — In his first comments since the early Friday strike …

Discussion: Politico, NBC News, Vanity Fair, HuffPost, The Gateway Pundit, WGN-TV, KTLA, The Daily Caller and Breitbart

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:

Trump's Iran strike demands a serious response from Democrats — President Trump's decision to order the assassination of Iranian Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani, a major escalation that could unleash all sorts of bloody and terrifying consequences, should prompt Democrats to do two things without delay.

Discussion: The Atlantic, The Week, Washington Free Beacon, The Nation, New York Times, Balloon Juice and DNyuz

New York Times:

Iranian General Traveled With Impunity, Until U.S. Drones Found Him — President Trump's decision to kill General Suleimani was one that his predecessors had rejected, fearing it would lead to war. — WASHINGTON — One night in January 2007, American Special Operations commandos tracked …

Discussion: The Guardian, Associated Press, The Week and DNyuz

Avi Selk / Washington Post:

Soleimani posted memes antagonizing Trump on social media — Iranian Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani, who was killed in a U.S. airstrike in Iraq early Friday, wasn't just an infamous terrorist organizer and one of the regime's most powerful officials — he was also one of President Trump's social media antagonists.

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit and Daily Kos

CBS News:
“There will be dead Americans” as a result of Iran general being killed, ex-CIA deputy director says

Discussion: Breitbart, Raw Story, Associated Press, BizPac Review and DNyuz

Michael Doran / New York Times:
Trump's Ground Game Against Iran

Discussion: The Federalist, The Week, Washington Post, Instapundit and Commentary

Marc Champion / Bloomberg:
Iran Options Seem Narrow as It Seeks to Avenge Slain General

Discussion: DNyuz

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE:
Statement by the Department of Defense

Suzanne Maloney / Washington Post: Iran knows how to bide its time. Don't expect immediate retaliation for Soleimani.

Axios:
The U.S. takes a war footing against Iran after Soleimani strike

Discussion: Washington Post, The Federalist, Breitbart, New York Times, VICE, The Guardian, The Week, NPR, No More Mister Nice Blog, Summit News and Raw Story

Sean Illing / Vox:
An expert on why the Soleimani assassination was almost certainly illegal

Discussion: Townhall, The Hill and Raw Story

New York Times:
U.S. Strike in Iraq Kills Qassim Suleimani, Commander of Iranian Forces

Emily Singer / The American Independent:
Trump: Only a ‘weak’ and ‘ineffective’ president would start a war with Iran

Discussion: Axios, Alternet.org, The Post Millennial and DNyuz

William Watts / MarketWatch:
Strait of Hormuz, the world's biggest oil chokepoint, in focus as U.S.-Iran tensions flare

Discussion: UPI

Tobias Hoonhout / National Review:
U.S. To Deploy Thousands of Troops to Middle East Following Soleimani Strike

Discussion: Washington Free Beacon and BizPac Review

New York Times:
Qassim Suleimani, Master of Iran's Intrigue, Built a Shiite Axis of Power in Mideast

Discussion: Townhall, NB Blog, DNyuz, VICE, Vox, spiked, One America News Network, Washington Post, CNN, The National Interest and Althouse

Politico:
POLITICO Playbook: Trump just made his most consequential decision as president

Discussion: VICE, Breitbart, Politico and The Hill

Julia Ioffe / GQ:
Trump's Faithful Will Follow Him to War

Discussion: New York Times, Breitbart, Alternet.org and New York Magazine

Fred Kaplan / Slate:
The United States Is Now at War With Iran

Discussion: Washington Free Beacon, HuffPost, The Atlantic, Vox and Reason

John Leicester / Associated Press:
‘A more dangerous world’: Iran killing triggers global alarm

Discussion: Associated Press, The Daily Beast, DNyuz and KTLA

CNN:
Top Democratic leaders kept in dark about Soleimani attack

Discussion: CBS News, POLITICUSUSA and The Daily Caller

Stanley McChrystal / Foreign Policy:
Iran's Deadly Puppet Master

Discussion: MarketWatch, Defense One, DNyuz, New York Times, The Drive, Task & Purpose and Reuters

New York Times:
Trump Says He Ordered Killing of Iranian to Prevent New Attack on Americans

Discussion: Vox, Vanity Fair, The Mahablog, Breitbart and Politico

Nancy Dillon / New York Daily News:

Ex-Fox News reporter Courtney Friel claims Donald Trump invited her to Trump Tower to ‘kiss’ — Former Fox News reporter Courtney Friel says Donald Trump called her with a creepy come-on before he became president — while they were both married. — Friel, who sometimes worked as a fill …

Discussion: Mediaite, The Week and HuffPost

Edward Helmore / The Guardian:

Fox News reporter says Trump invited her to his office ‘so we can kiss’ — Courtney Friel claims in her upcoming book that the proposition was made during a phone call before he became president — A Fox News reporter has added her name to the list of nearly two dozen women …

Discussion: Mediaite

FiveThirtyEight:

Our Poll Finds A Majority Of Americans Think The Evidence Supports Trump's Removal — After the House of Representatives voted to impeach President Trump on Dec. 18, the president's fate is in the Senate's hands. The process for the trial still isn't clear, but there are signs that it will likely …

Discussion: Washington Post and Raw Story

Burgess Everett / Politico:
Why Democrats say they might not vote to convict Trump

Discussion: Bloomberg, The Daily Caller, Raw Story, The Hill, NBC News and Alternet.org

Lisa Mascaro / Associated Press:
Senate impeachment trial in flux amid Mideast crisis

Discussion: Politico, The Hill and The Week

Julie Zauzmer / Washington Post:

United Methodist Church is expected to split over gay marriage, fracturing the nation's third-largest denomination — Church leaders said Friday they had agreed to spin off a “traditionalist Methodist” denomination, and allow the remainder of the denomination to permit same-sex marriage …

Discussion: National Review, The Daily Caller, IJR, Disrn, Meduza.io, The Hill and WND

New York Times:
United Methodist Church Announces Plan to Split Over Same-Sex Marriage

Discussion: TheBlaze

Preston Ayres / WCYB:

Roe Retiring: Congressman won't seek another term — Tennessee Congressman Phil Roe is not running for re-election. The six-term Republican announced Friday morning he will not seek a seventh term in 2020. Roe was first elected to Congress in 2008 by defeating incumbent David Davis in the Republican primary.

Discussion: Axios, Associated Press, Raw Story and The Daily Caller