REPORT: Media Confusion: Anonymous Sources Give 4 Separate Stories About Soleimani Strike and Trump

JANUARY 13, 2020

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As the most reliable and balanced news aggregation service on the internet, DML News App offers the following information published by The Daily Wire:

When and how did President Donald Trump come up with the decision to have Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani killed? That’s the question the media seems to have been asking for the past week — and so far, they’ve come up with wildly different answers.

Using the oh-so-tired “anonymous sources” trick, media outlets have reported everything from Trump wanted Soleimani dead back in 2017 to suggesting it was actually Secretary of State Mike Pompeo who pushed for the killing.

These are the four “reports” that have been issued, citing based on anonymous officials:

  • Trump Made The Decision Just Days Before Soleimani’s Death And Officials Were ‘Stunned’

The New York Times reported on Jan. 7,  Trump chose Soleimani’s killing from a list of options. Killing Soleimani was the most extreme option and stunned officials, according to anonymous sources.

“In the wars waged since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, Pentagon officials have often offered improbable options to presidents to make other possibilities appear more palatable,” the report claimed.

  • It Was Pompeo’s Idea

The Washington Post published a Jan. 5 article said Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Vice President Mike Pence pushed for Trump to approve Soleimani’s killing. They cited officials “speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.”

WaPo also reported that Trump received a list of options in their report.

  • Trump Actually Authorized Soleimani’s Killing 7 Months Ago

NBC News issued a report on Jan. 13 that claimed Trump authorized the Soleimani strike seven months ago, with the condition that authorization was based on whether Iran killed any Americans.

“That decision explains why assassinating Soleimani was on the menu of options that the military presented to Trump two weeks ago for responding to an attack by Iranian proxies in Iraq, in which a U.S. contractor was killed and four U.S. service members were wounded, the officials said,” NBC News reported.

This report was sourced to “five current and former senior administration officials.”

  • Trump Wanted To Kill Soleimani Back In 2017

WaPo published a new report on Jan. 12, alleging that Trump “had from his earliest days in office raised the possibility of killing” Soleimani.

“Trump initially floated the possibility of killing Soleimani in the spring of 2017 when Iranian-backed rebels in Yemen fired a ballistic missile at Saudi Arabia’s capital just before Trump’s arrival,” the report said.

Then-Defense Secretary Jim Mattis “resisted any action.”

Sources cited for the report were, “one current and one former U.S. official” as well as a “former senior Pentagon official.”

To get more information about this article, please visit The Daily Wire. To weigh in, leave a comment below.

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