President Trump received an ovation from a crowd at a predominantly Hispanic megachurch where he touted his immigration policies and southern border wall during the launch of a new coalition, "Evangelicals for Trump," on Friday in Miami, the Washington Post reports.
Why it matters: "Trump’s decision to launch the new group at one of the largest Latino evangelical churches in the nation was 'without a doubt' a reaction to" an op-ed Christianity Today released calling for the president's impeachment, the Post writes. Trump is counting on a strong evangelical vote in 2020, and his re-election campaign expects Evangelicals for Trump to expand before then.
President Trump was interrupted during campaign planning at his Mar-a-Lago resort last Sunday and pulled into another meeting which resulted in the final call to authorize a drone strike that killed Iran's top general Qasem Soleimani, the New York Times reports.
Why now: Officials said the decision to strike Soleimani emerged in response to the death of an American contractor the Friday before Christmas in Iraq by Iranian-sponsored militia groups. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo claimed Soleimani was "actively" planning an attack on Americans, the Washington Post reports.
In Baghdad Saturday, thousands of Iraqi mourners held a funeral procession for Qasem Soleimani, chanting: "America is the Great Satan," AP reports.
Context: Soleimani's body will be sent back to his hometown in Iran where he will be buried after the funeral processions in Iraq are completed, BBC writes. Iraqis are also mourning the death of Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, a senior Iraqi militia commander who was killed in the same drone strike, per AP.
In authorizing the targeted killing of top Iranian general Qasem Soleimani, President Trump chose his lifetime instinct for projecting strength over his vocal aversion to foreign intervention.
What he's saying: "Soleimani was plotting imminent and sinister attacks on American diplomats and military personnel, but we caught him in the act and terminated him," Trump said at Mar-a-Lago.
Ready to skip 2020 and go straight to 2024? In a SurveyMonkey poll for Axios, Republican voters chose children of President Trump — Don Jr. and Ivanka — as two of the top four picks for president in four years.
Why it matters: An early poll like this is largely a measure of name ID. But it's also a vivid illustration of just how strong Trump's brand is with the GOP.
Sen. Cory Booker's campaign said Friday it raised $6.6 million in the fourth quarter of 2019.
The state of play: While the Q4 sum is the biggest the Booker campaign has collected during his presidential run, it is still smaller than the majority of his 2020 rivals who have thus far announced their numbers for the quarter.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell argued Friday on the Senate floor that senators' role in an impeachment proceeding is "nothing like the job of jurors in the legal system."
"That is why the Constitution puts the impeachment trial in this place. Not because senators should pretend they are uninformed, unopinionated or disinterested in the long-term political questions that an impeachment of the president poses — but precisely because we are informed, we are opinionated and we can take up these weighty questions."
Flashback: McConnell's statement tracks with the position he expressed last month — when he stated that he is not an "impartial juror" and called impeachment "a political process."
Rep. Phil Roe (R-Tenn.) announced Friday he won't seek re-election in 2020, per WCYB.
The big picture: Roe, the ranking member of the House Veterans' Affairs Committee, is the 25th Republican to announce he will not run for re-election this cycle.
Billionaire Tom Steyer's presidential campaign has hired Democratic delegate guru Jeff Berman, a move that signals Steyer intends to stay in the race for months despite his standing at around 2% in national polls.
Why it matters: Berman, whose detailed understanding of the delegate process was key to Barack Obama's nomination in 2008, could be especially valuable if there's no clear frontrunner after the first several 2020 caucus and primary contests — or in a brokered convention scenario.
Amy Klobuchar's 2020 presidential campaign said Friday that it raised $11.4 million during 2019's fourth quarter, Politico reports.
Why it matters: It's the best quarter yet for the moderate Minnesota senator, who pulled in just $4.8 million in Q3, boosted by strong debate performances in the later portion of the year.
Sen. Bernie Sanders' $35 million fourth-quarter fundraising, which easily tops 2020 Democrats, is a timely reminder that the socialist senator from Vermont is the single most consistently popular and viable Democrat of the past half-decade.
Why it matters: The media rarely treats Sanders, 78, with the seriousness warranted by his sustained popularity and fundraising.
Mark Galli, editor in chief of Christianity Today, is "surprised by the ethical naïveté" of Trump supporters' response to his editorial, calling for the president to be removed from office, he told the New York Times on Thursday.
What he's saying: "There does seem to be widespread ignorance — that is the best word I can come up with — of the gravity of Trump’s moral failings. Some evangelicals will acknowledge he had a problem with adultery, but now they consider that a thing of the past."
Sen. Bernie Sanders is ramping up his defense against fellow 2020 competitor Joe Biden, criticizing the former vice president's record and questioning his ability to garner voter turnout, the Washington Post writes.
What he's saying: “It’s just a lot of baggage that Joe takes into a campaign, which isn’t going to create energy and excitement,” Sanders said in an interview between events in Iowa. “He brings into this campaign a record which is so weak that it just cannot create the kind of excitement and energy that is going to be needed to defeat Donald Trump.”
