WTF Just Happened Today

Monday, January 13, 2020

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1/ Defense Secretary Mark Esper "didn't see" intelligence backing up Trump's claim that Iran was planning to strike four U.S. embassies. Trump previously told Fox News that Iranian General Qasem Soleimani was "probably" going to attack "four embassies," including the "embassy in Baghdad." While Esper agreed with Trump that additional attacks against U.S. embassies were likely, he said Trump's comments were not based on any specific evidence. Esper also confirmed that he sent "thousands of American paratroopers to the Middle East to reinforce our embassy in Baghdad and other sites" based on Trump's evidence-free assertion. (Reuters / NBC News / New York Times / CNN / CNBC)

• ???? Day 1086: Trump claimed Iran had targeted four American embassies before he ordered the killing of Soleimani. Yesterday, Trump claimed that Iran was "looking to blow up" the U.S. embassy in Baghdad, but did not mention the three other embassies under "imminent" threat. (Bloomberg / Washington Post)

• State Department officials involved in embassy security were not notified of "imminent" threats to U.S. embassies. (CNN)

2/ Senior administration officials declined to confirm Trump's assertion that Iran was "looking to blow up" four U.S. embassies. Officials instead suggested that Trump's "interpretation" of the threat was consistent with overall intelligence that justified the killing of Soleimani. Trump, meanwhile, tweeted that "it doesn't really matter" whether Soleimani posed an "imminent" threat to the United States. (Washington Post)

3/ Trump authorized the assassination of Soleimani seven months ago. Trump issued a presidential directive in June that the killing of Soleimani was "only on the table if they hit Americans," referring to Iranian actions in the region. The directive also came with the condition that Trump would have the final say on any specific operation to kill the Iranian general. The Trump administration's justification for ordering the drone strike, however, was that Soleimani was planning "imminent" attacks on Americans and had to be stopped. (