memeorandum: Bipartisan group of campaign finance lawyers urge leaders to ‘immediately’ restore quorum at Federal Election Commission (Michelle Lee/Washington Post)

10:50 AM ET, January 7, 2020

Top Items:

Stampede kills 32 at funeral for Iran general killed by US — TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — A stampede erupted on Tuesday at a funeral procession for a top Iranian general killed in a U.S. airstrike last week, killing 32 people and injuring 190 others, state television reported.

Discussion: New York Times, Washington Post, CNBC, The Daily Caller, Raw Story, The Week, VICE, Common Dreams, Соб … and Axios

David Leonhardt / New York Times:

No One Believes Trump — Which isn't good in an international crisis. — “This is where having credibility — and having a president who didn't lie about everything — would be really, really helpful,” Samantha Power, the former United States ambassador to the United Nations, wrote recently.

Discussion: Reason

Michelle Goldberg / New York Times:

The Nightmare Stage of Trump's Rule Is Here — Unstable and impeached, the president pushes the U.S. toward war with Iran. — There are no more adults in the room. — After three harrowing years, we've reached the point many of us feared from the moment Donald Trump was elected.

Discussion: Defense One, Bangor Daily News, Los Angeles Times and Washington Post, more at Mediagazer »

New York Times:

Khamenei Wants to Put Iran's Stamp on Reprisal for U.S. Killing of Top General — In a departure from Iran's usual tactics of hiding behind proxies, the country's supreme leader wants any retaliation for the killing of a top military commander to be carried out openly by Iranian forces.

Discussion: National Review, The Week, Fox News, New Yorker, The American Independent and HuffPost

Washington Post:
War with Iran is still less likely than you think

Discussion: One America News Network, New York Times, Vox and American Prospect

Najmeh Bozorgmehr / Financial Times:
Iran considers options for retribution over Soleimani killing

Discussion: National Review, Wall Street Journal, Politico and Heavy.com

Adam Shaw / Fox News:
Iranian foreign minister fumes over reported visa denial for UN meetings in New York

Discussion: Foreign Policy, The Hill and Common Dreams

New York Times:
Why Iran Is in Mourning … Listen and subscribe to our podcast from your mobile device:

Discussion: Twitchy

New York Times:

Mike Pompeo Is Said to Decide Against Running for Senate in Kansas — The secretary of state's decision most likely ends Republicans' hopes of securing a potentially dominant candidate for the open seat in Kansas, his home state. — Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Monday told Mitch McConnell …

Discussion: CNN, Vanity Fair, Washington Post, Outside the Beltway, The Guardian, FiveThirtyEight, The Nation, Politico, NBC News, HuffPost, Talking Points Memo, Raw Story, Alternet.org, Wall Street Journal, Axios and Mediaite

Benjamin Wittes / The Atlantic: Pelosi and McConnell Are Playing High-Stakes Poker

Jordain Carney / The Hill:
Romney wants ‘to hear from John Bolton’ in impeachment trial

Discussion: NBC News, National Review, The Daily Caller, Common Dreams and Washington Post

Washington Post:
Trump wants us to trust him on Iran. Without a real impeachment trial, we can't.

Discussion: Washington Examiner, JONATHAN TURLEY and New York Times

John Bresnahan / Politico:
GOP moderates side with McConnell over Bolton testimony

Discussion: The Hill, No More Mister Nice Blog, Washington Post, National Review, The Daily Caller, NBC News, Talking Points Memo, The Week and Task & Purpose

James Barnett / The Hill:

Why Trump should fear Sanders much more than Warren in 2020 — It is conventional political wisdom that President Trump stands his best chance in 2020 if Democrats nominate a far left candidate like Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren. That is half right. I have witnessed both of these candidates …

Discussion: Politico

Cameron Easley / Morning Consult:
A Month Ahead of Iowa Caucuses, Biden Is Democrats' Best Bet to Beat Trump

Discussion: The Hill and IJR

Matthew Yglesias / Vox: Bernie Sanders can unify Democrats and beat Trump in 2020

Garrett Haake / NBC News:
Sanders shuttle: Trump trial could trap candidates in D.C. One senator has an escape plan.

Discussion: The Hill

Matthew Yglesias / Vox:

Elizabeth Warren's new plan to reform bankruptcy law, explained — Sen. Elizabeth Warren campaigning in New Hampshire on January 2, 2020. Scott Eisen/Getty Images — A return to her political roots. — With a new plan out Tuesday, Sen. Elizabeth Warren is returning to her roots …

Patrick Svitek / The Texas Tribune: Former Castro supporters in Texas switch to Biden after Castro drops out

David Dayen / American Prospect:
Warren's Latest Plan Signals That It's Time to Talk About Joe Biden's Record

Discussion: Team Warren and Mediaite

New York Times:

Pentagon Rules Out Striking Iranian Cultural Sites, Contradicting Trump — The defense secretary acknowledged that “the laws of armed conflict” prohibited attacking antiquities and said the military had no plans to do so, even though the president declared them targets.

John Hinderaker / Power Line:
“War Crimes” Hysteria on the Left

Discussion: USA Today, Washington Post and New York Times

Washington Post:

Trump administration begins drafting possible sanctions against Iraq following Trump's economic threat — No decision has been made on whether to implement the penalties, but aides scrambled following presidential warning to Baghdad — Senior administration officials have begun drafting sanctions …

Discussion: NBC News, The Hill, CNN, Соб …, The Moderate Voice, Eschaton, Alternet.org, Vanity Fair, Foreign Policy, Mediaite, Mother Jones and The Root

Alex Horton / Washington Post:

Russian trolls are targeting American veterans, and Trump's government isn't helping, group says — The Trump administration has for nearly two years ignored mounting evidence that Russian operatives and other foreign actors were deliberately targeting U.S. troops and veterans …

Kimiko de Freytas-Tamura / New York Times:

A Near-Extinct Language Finds a Home in One Brooklyn Building — There are just 700 Seke speakers left in the world, and 100 live in New York — half of them in one building. — The apartment building, in Brooklyn's Flatbush neighborhood, is a hive of nationalities.

New York Times:

Iranian-Americans Questioned at the Border: 'My Kids Shouldn't Experience Such Things' — Up to 200 people were held by border agents, with some of them reportedly asked to share their opinions about the situation in Iran and Iraq. — SEATTLE — Arriving at the United States border …

Discussion: Washington Post, Slate, CAIR and Daily Kos

Arelis Hernández / Washington Post:

Puerto Rico earthquake Tuesday morning triggers blackout, reports of injuries and at least one dead — A powerful 6.4-magnitude earthquake off Puerto Rico's southwestern coast early Tuesday morning has triggered a widespread blackout, interrupted telecommunications and sent homeowners scrambling …

Discussion: Daily Kos

Barbara Starr / CNN:

US forces on high alert for possible Iranian drone attacks, and intelligence shows Iran moving military equipment — Washington (CNN)US forces and air-defense missile batteries across the Middle East were placed on high alert overnight Monday to possibly shoot down Iranian drones …

Discussion: KTLA and Raw Story

AMN - Al-Masdar News:

Russia offers Iraq S-400 air defense system to protect airspace — BEIRUT, LEBANON (10:00 A.M.) - Russia has offered Iraq their S-400 air defense system to protect their airspace, RIA Novosti reported this week, citing the Russian Ministry of Defense. — According to the report …

Ashley Strickland / CNN:

Mysterious repeating fast radio burst traced to nearby galaxy — (CNN)Astronomers have traced the signal of an enigmatic repeating fast radio burst for only the second time — and it's in a spiral galaxy similar to our own, not so far away. — Fast radio bursts, or FRBs, are millisecond-long bursts of radio waves in space.

Will Wade / Bloomberg:

Coal's Collapse Has America's Greenhouse Gas Emissions Falling — Greenhouse gas emissions have dipped two of past three years — U.S. coal power declined last year to lowest level since 1975 — Greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. slipped last year as coal-fired power plants continue to close.

Desmond Lachman / The Hill:

President Trump's stock market gamble — As the 2020 presidential election campaign gets into full swing, President Trump might want to reflect on a 1929 cautionary tale involving Irving Fisher, the pre-eminent U.S. economist of his time. Maybe then Trump would not keep making …

Mark Binelli / Rolling Stone:

How Lindsey Graham Lost His Way — The senator once enjoyed respect on both sides of the aisle. Why has he become a blind loyalist to Trump? — Lindsey Graham and Donald Trump were born nine years and one month apart. Trump came first, but when they appear side by side …

Discussion: Raw Story

Josephine Harvey / HuffPost:

Number Of Animals Feared Dead In Australia's Wildfires Soars To Over 1 Billion — Ecologists at the University of Sydney and WWF Australia estimate that a billion is a conservative figure. — SYDNEY ― The number of wildlife estimated to have died in Australia's wildfire catastrophe has skyrocketed to more than 1 billion.

Discussion: New York Times, VICE, Common Dreams, Townhall and Daily Kos

Irin Carmon / The Cut:

The 57-Page PowerPoint Harvey Weinstein's Team Is Sending Reporters — As New York prepared to publish this week's look at the coming trial of Harvey Weinstein, along with a portfolio of women who have made allegations against him, I reached out to his current publicist, Juda Engelmayer, for comment.

Discussion: Columbia Journalism Review, Page Six, Common Dreams, Jezebel, BuzzFeed News and New York Times, more at Mediagazer »

Dan Merica / CNN:

Buttigieg releases 4 early-state ads — with 4 distinct messages — Buttigieg: Donors not ‘disqualified’ from ambassador posts — (CNN)Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg will begin airing four distinct ads in the early-nominating states on Tuesday, tailoring a message ranging …

Discussion: YouTube and The Hill

Steve Hayes / The Dispatch:

Anatomy of a Screw-Up: The Story Behind the Letter Withdrawing Our Troops — In a letter dated January 6, Brigadier Gen. William Seely III, the commanding general of Task Force Iraq, wrote to his Iraqi counterpart with big news: The United States military was preparing to leave Iraq.

Discussion: CNN, Reason, Alternet.org, Raw Story and The Morning Dispatch

New York Times:

American Consumers, Not China, Are Paying for Trump's Tariffs — New York Fed and academic researchers found that U.S. consumers and companies have borne the brunt of the president's trade war. — WASHINGTON — American businesses and consumers, not China, are bearing the financial brunt …

Discussion: FiveThirtyEight

Zach Montellaro / Politico:

More Dems face debate chopping block — The Democratic presidential debate stage is set to shrink again next week. — Only five candidates so far have earned spots in the Jan. 14 CNN/Des Moines Register debate in Iowa: Joe Biden, Pete Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren.

Discussion: Outside the Beltway and Yang Gang Wisdom

Salvador Rizzo / Washington Post:

Anatomy of a Trump rally: 67 percent of claims are false or lacking evidence — We're kicking off the new year with a line-by-line fact check of President Trump's longest rally to date. — It was the Moby Dick of fact-checking assignments, a two-hour tornado of false and bewildering claims.

Aaron Blake / Washington Post:

The old Nikki Haley called for civility. The new one just said Democrats are ‘mourning’ a terrorist. — Nikki Haley navigated the choppy waters of the Trump administration better than anyone. Using a relatively low-profile gig as ambassador to the United Nations, she picked her spots.

Discussion: Townhall, Raw Story and Alternet.org