memeorandum: As a former whistleblower, I think the Ukraine complaint is cowardly crock (Fred Fleitz/New York Post)

10:55 AM ET, January 4, 2020

Top Items:

Trump Told Mar-a-Lago Pals to Expect ‘Big’ Iran Action ‘Soon’ — Attendees of a closed-door Senate briefing didn't get much more clarity than the club guests did. Instead, officials spun Soleimani's slaying as a way to “de-escalate” tensions. — In the five days prior to launching …

Discussion: Washington Post, The Week, The American Independent, Raw Story, Axios and Jacobin, more at Mediagazer »

Washington Post:

How Trump decided to kill a top Iranian general — On Sunday, President Trump's most senior national security advisers joined him at his Mar-a- — Lago resort in Florida, where Trump was beginning the second week of his holiday vacation. The officials told reporters that U.S. F-15 Strike Eagles …

Discussion: Lawyers, Guns & Money, News Items, DNyuz, Raw Story, New York Post, Axios, The Week and The Daily Beast, more at Mediagazer »

Melissa Etehad / Los Angeles Times:

Pence falsely links Iranian general to 9/11 attacks — On Friday afternoon, Vice President Mike Pence took to Twitter to justify the targeted U.S. attack that killed Iranian Gen. Qassem Suleimani. — But scholars say his tweets contain several inaccuracies, including an allegation …

Washington Post:

Trump plunges toward the kind of Middle Eastern conflict he pledged to avoid — With a single momentous decision to authorize a drone strike killing a top Iranian commander in Baghdad, President Trump immediately thrust himself into the center of a volatile and unpredictable region …

Discussion: Balloon Juice and DNyuz

Rodney Jefferson / Yahoo Finance:

Fear Hits Tehran Over What Might Come Next — (Bloomberg) — Their supreme leader promised revenge and thousands gathered in Tehran to watch American flags burn, but any show of defiance after the assassination of their most prominent military man is laced with anguish for many Iranians.

Discussion: Bloomberg

Nahal Toosi / Politico:

How Trump decided to kill Iran's Soleimani — Hours before the U.S. military sent a Reaper drone to kill one of the most wanted men on the planet, President Donald Trump was relaxing at his palatial Florida properties. In the morning, he played 18 holes at Trump International, his West Palm Beach golf club.

Discussion: Politico, Gizmodo, KTLA, DNyuz, Washington Post, NPR, One America News Network, Breitbart, HuffPost and NBC News

Yahoo Finance:

U.S. Killing of Soleimani Leaves Trump ‘Totally Unpredictable’ — (Bloomberg) — Three years into Donald Trump's presidency, U.S. allies and adversaries thought they had him figured out as a leader prone to bellicose talk who rarely delivered on his boldest military threats.

Discussion: DNyuz

New York Times:

A Shocked Iraq Reconsiders Its Relationship With the U.S. — The killing of General Suleimani, intended as a shot against Iran, could accelerate an Iranian objective: pushing the United States military out of Iraq. — BAGHDAD — American oil workers were fleeing Iraq on Friday …

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, The Week and Summit News

Ross Ibbetson / Daily Mail: Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei with family members of the killed general

David S. Cloud / Los Angeles Times:
How Trump made the decision to kill Suleimani

Discussion: Politico

John Daniszewski / Associated Press: Was the drone attack on Iranian general an assassination?

JONATHAN TURLEY:
Trump Orders Defense Department To Publicly Confirm Assassination Of Iranian General

Discussion: Redstate, Fox News and New York Post

Christopher Bedford / The Federalist: Killing Soleimani Was The Right Move, And Shows Precisely Why It's Time To Leave Iraq

Curtis Houck / NB Blog:
Embarrassing: ‘NBC Nightly News’ Turns Itself into Infomercial for Iranian Regime

Discussion: TASS

Mother Jones:
With a War Against Iran Brewing, Don't Listen to the Hawks Who Lied Us Into Iraq

Discussion: The Daily Caller, BizPac Review, Daily Kos and New York Times

Washington Post:
Yes, Soleimani was an enemy. That doesn't mean Trump made the right call.

Discussion: New York Times, New York Post, Raw Story, Informed Comment, Reuters, Mother Jones, The Atlantic, Althouse and americamagazine.org

NBC News:
Planned attacks against U.S. targets in Syria, Lebanon were reason for Soleimani strike, say officials

Discussion: CBS News, Associated Press, Letters from an American, The Economic Collapse and Common Dreams

Washington Post:
Trump endorses tweet comparing top Senate Democrat to Iranians

Discussion: The National Interest, Breitbart, Raw Story and Vanity Fair

Sarah Mervosh / New York Times:
Will There Be a Draft? Young People Worry After Military Strike

Discussion: CNN, Mashable, Michigan Advance and DNyuz

Greenwich Time: With missile strike, Trump opts for escalation and a swing at a ‘hornets’ nest'

Max Fisher / New York Times:
Is There a Risk of Wider War With Iran?

Discussion: Associated Press, DNyuz and Townhall

Brent Scher / Washington Free Beacon:
In 1996 Interview, Biden Called Iranian Bombing ‘Act of War,’ Called for Tough Response

Discussion: Townhall, WND, Grabien News and Vox

David E. Sanger / New York Times:
For Trump, a Risky Gamble to Deter Iran

Discussion: The National Interest, Townhall, DNyuz, ABC News, Associated Press, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Blue Delaware, Quartz, Vanity Fair, Gizmodo, Breitbart, Axios and Vox

Shibley Telhami / Foreign Policy: The U.S. Public Still Doesn't Want War With Iran

Newsweek:
Iraqi militia leader may be among six killed in another U.S. drone strike in Baghdad

Discussion: DNyuz

New York Times:

White House Withholds 20 Emails Between Two Trump Aides on Ukraine Aid — It contends the release of the documents sought by The Times, would “inhibit the frank and candid exchange of views” in government decision-making. — WASHINGTON — The Trump administration disclosed on Friday …

Discussion: POLITICUSUSA, CNN, The Hill, Raw Story and Center for Public Integrity

Neal Rothschild / Axios:

Trump children are 2 of the top 4 choices for Republicans in 2024 — Ready to skip 2020 and go straight to 2024? In a new SurveyMonkey poll, Republican voters chose children of President Trump — Don Jr. and Ivanka — as two of the top four picks for president in five years.

Discussion: Raw Story

Alexander Nazaryan / Yahoo News:

Democrats battle White House over executive power and congressional oversight — WASHINGTON — Attorneys for House Democrats on Friday challenged the Trump administration on its claims of executive powers, in two court hearings that, while not directly related to the

Brent Kendall / Wall Street Journal: Trump Administration Subpoena Case Gets Mixed Reaction from Court Panel

Todd Ruger / Roll Call: House counsel warns of ‘gun battle’ in fight for Trump info

Tess Bonn / The Hill:

Bloomberg rises to third place alongside Warren in national poll — Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg saw a 6-point bump in the latest Hill.TV survey of the Democratic presidential primary. — The nationwide poll, which was released Friday, shows Bloomberg up from 5 percent …

Discussion: Politico, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Disrn, Breitbart and Althouse

Reid J. Epstein / New York Times: D.N.C. Tells Pollsters to Do More Polls

Matt Welch / Reason:

Reminder: American Officials Lie About War — “Don't trust liars—especially about matters of war and peace,” writes Vox's Matthew Yglesias. “Today's a day,” The Atlantic's David Frum posits, “when the most untruthful administration in US history will wish its statements could be believed.”

Discussion: New York Times, Quartz, Raw Story and Washington Post

Fred Fleitz / New York Post:

As a former whistleblower, I think the Ukraine complaint is cowardly crock — There's a proper way for a CIA whistleblower to complain about a president. The anonymous CIA whistleblower who set off the Ukraine impeachment brouhaha did it wrong. — I would know — because I'm a former CIA officer …

Thomas J. Wood / Politico:

No, We're Not Living in a Post-Fact World — Since President Donald Trump's election, if not before, a conventional wisdom has emerged that Americans are living in a “post-truth” age. Whether they're talking about Trump's dealings with Ukraine or debates about climate change, many journalists …

Yahoo News:

Gervais back to roast Hollywood in ‘final’ Globes role — “Shut up, you disgusting, pill-popping deviant scum!” — Those were the words Ricky Gervais used to open the star-studded Golden Globes in 2016 — the last time he hosted Hollywood's most free-wheeling award show.

Jennifer Rubin / Washington Post:

When will Bernie Sanders get the scrutiny that top-tier candidates deserve? — Former vice president Joe Biden claims that the nearly year-long assault on his record has been entirely unsuccessful, showing that he can take a pummeling and keep fighting. Former South Bend, Ind. …

Discussion: Washington Times and IJR

Salena Zito / Washington Examiner: Tone-deaf Democrats risk handing western Pennsylvania to Trump

Steve Doughty Social Affairs / Daily Mail:

The Muslim population of England has passed the three million mark for the first time (file image) — According to the ONS assessment, Christians continue to decline in number, but the drop in allegiance to Christianity may be slowing. — Among other faith groups, the share of Hindus …

Discussion: Breitbart and The Gateway Pundit

Will Sommer / The Daily Beast:

QAnon Believer Teamed Up With Conspiracy Theorists to Plot Kidnapping, Police Say — Conspiracy theorist Cynthia Abcug allegedly predicted that “Satan worshipers” would be killed in a raid by QAnon believers. — Colorado mother Cynthia Abcug became an unlikely star on the fringe right …

New York Daily News:

McConnell and Pelosi dig in their heels on standoff over Trump impeachment trial — The standoff over President Trump's expected impeachment trial showed no signs of letting up Friday, as Mitch McConnell and Nancy Pelosi accused each other of playing political football with the somber process.

Washington Post: Escalating U.S.-Iran tensions scramble the politics of Trump's impeachment