Trump Says the US Is Ready for War. Not All His Troops Are So Sure.
President Donald Trump joins West Point cadets during the the Army v. Navy American Football game.Afp/Lapresse/ZUMA This story was published originally by ProPublica, a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up for ProPublica’s Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox as soon as they are published. Between the killing…
The Three Biggest Lies Trump and His Deputies Have Been Telling Us About Iran
Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Ever since the US drone strike that killed Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, a top Iranian general, the Trump administration hasn’t been able to provide consistent, or even coherent, answers about the assassination. Why did President Donald Trump decide to kill Soleimani? Was there really an “imminent” threat from Iran? Will this lead to…
Defense Secretary Says He “Didn’t See” Intel to Back Up Trump’s Latest Iran Claim
Defense Secretary Mark Esper on “Face the Nation.”Screenshot of CBS’s “Face the Nation” President Donald Trump’s evolving rationale for the killing of a senior Iranian general continues to raise eyebrows, and now the Pentagon’s chief says he did not see evidence Trump cited on Friday about threat from Iran. On Friday during an interview on…
Meet the Iran Hawks Inside Trump’s Administration
President Donald Trump listens to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo during a Cabinet meeting in October 2019.Alex Wong/Getty John Bolton resigned as national security adviser in September at the nadir of his influence in the Trump administration. Left on the sidelines of talks with North Korea and the Taliban, Bolton grew isolated, his notoriously hawkish…
Emails Reveal “Clear Direction From POTUS” on Ukraine Scandal
President Donald Trump speaks as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky looks on during a meeting in New York on September 25, 2019.Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images Newly revealed communications between White House staffers and officials at the Pentagon are shedding additional light on the Ukraine scandal—even as the Senate prepares for President Donald Trump’s trial following…
Can You Make a Progressive Defense Bill? Democrats Tried, and Now Think They Failed.
Mark Wilson/Getty Five months ago, progressives stacked the annual defense policy bill with dozens of provisions sure to make any hawkish Republican queasy. Win Without War, a liberal anti-war group, praised the “big progressive victories” in the bill and lawmakers roundly proclaimed it the “most progressive” defense bill in history. But the legislation set to…