- The evidence that Suleimani was planning an imminent attack on the US is “razor thin” according to reporting from Rukmini Callimachi. This echoes what the few congressmen who have spoken on the matter have said.
- Per the New York Times, the Suleimani assassination was presented to Trump as one of several options and they did not expect him to choose it. Pompeo pushed for choosing the strike as Pompeo has wanted to take more aggressive actions against Iran for years.
- The anti-ISIS coalition in Iraq has suspended operations against ISIS due to the need to now protect US assets from Iranian reprisal.
- Prosecutors want to unveil the specific lies Paul Manafort told investigators after his plea deal. Some of these lies surrounded his communications with Konstantin Kilimnik about Trump’s Ukraine policy.
- Trump tweeted that if Iran retaliates, the United States will target 52 sites in Iran which represent the 52 hostages Iran took in 1979. Several of those hostages and their family members have expressed anger at being invoked this way. He said these sites will include cultural targets. Targeting cultural sites is explicitly against both US and international law. The president is again openly saying he wants to commit war crimes, as he did on the campaign trail. Mike Pompeo appeared on all five Sunday news shows and either ignored the comments or flatly said Trump had not said we would target cultural sites. Pompeo lied. Later in the day, Trump told the press on Air Force One that “it doesn’t work that way” in reference to not being able to target cultural sites.
- In the same Air Force One press spray, Trump said that if Iraq forces the United States to leave their country, he will put sanctions on them which are larger than those on Iran. He will also insist they “pay us back” for the military bases the US built there after invading Iraq in 2003. The president thinks the military bases in Iraq are a transaction the Iraqis owe the United States for.
