Pompeo Dismisses NYT Report on Soleimani Strike: There Was ‘No Skepticism’ About an Imminent Attack

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is appearing on all the Sunday shows today to address the U.S. strike on top Iranian general Qasem Soleimani.

NEW: "You said that (Soleimani) was planning an imminent attack against Americans. What evidence can you share?" @GStephanopoulos asks, citing report that intel was "thin."

Pompeo says senior leadership who had "access" to all intel had "no skepticism." https://t.co/ifPIm99nv9 pic.twitter.com/H4p8qSgQuD

— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) January 5, 2020

Pompeo and other top officials have said that they took action to prevent an “imminent attack.” On ABC’s This Week today, George Stephanopoulos brought up this detail in a new report from The New York Times:

But some officials voiced private skepticism about the rationale for a strike on General Suleimani, who was responsible for the deaths of hundreds of American troops over the years. According to one United States official, the new intelligence indicated “a normal Monday in the Middle East” — Dec. 30 — and General Suleimani’s travels amounted to “business as usual.”

That official described the intelligence as thin and said that General Suleimani’s attack was not imminent because of communications the United States had between Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and General Suleimani showing that the ayatollah had not yet approved any plans by the general for an attack. The ayatollah, according to the communications, had asked General Suleimani to come to Tehran for further discussions at least a week before his death.

Pompeo said in response, “The senior leaders who had access to all of the intelligence — there was no skepticism.”

He cited comments from Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, saying the U.S. would have been “culpably negligent” if they didn’t act. Pompeo said the actions the U.S. took reduced the risk.

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