Trump Reportedly Says Impeachment Played Role in Striking Soleimani, Felt ‘Pressure to Deal With’ Him From GOP Sens

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President Donald Trump had impeachment on his mind when he decided to order the strike that killed Iranian Quds Forces leader Qasem Soleimani according to a new report that says Trump “felt pressure to deal with” the general from Senate GOP allies crucial to the outcome of the impeachment trial.

On Thursday evening, The Wall Street Journal published a lengthy article with the laudatory headline “Trump’s New National Security Team Made Fast Work of Iran Strike,” replete with blow-by-blow reporting on the strike and its aftermath.

But Crooked Media Editor-in-Chief Brian Beutler noticed a monumental buried lede fossilized within the layers of journalistic shale: Trump has reportedly told “associates” that his impending impeachment trial played a role in the decision to strike Soleimani.

Mr. Trump, after the strike, told associates he was under pressure to deal with Gen. Soleimani from GOP senators he views as important supporters in his coming impeachment trial in the Senate, associates said.

The report also says that high-ranking military leaders who would ordinarily be consulted in this sort of situation were left out of the loop:

In the strike on Gen. Soleimani, some high-ranking officials who ordinarily would be consulted in advance—and leaned on to later explain it publicly—said they learned of the action from news reports. That evening, Mr. Trump retweeted a picture of the Stars and Stripes.

Massachusetts Senator and Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren accused Trump of striking Soleimani to distract from or undermine the impeachment trial immediately following the attack, and has continued to do so since then. The WSJ reporting, if true, could vindicate Warren’s view, and those of other Trump critics.