President Trump’s decision to sharply escalate hostilities with Iran comes as President Trump’s impeachment process is expected to heat back up this week now that Congress has returned from its winter recess. The Democratic-controlled House and the Republican-controlled Senate remain in a standoff over the impeachment, with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi refusing to send the articles of impeachment to the Senate in efforts to pressure the Senate to call witnesses in the trial, among other procedural demands. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has said he will not call witnesses and that he will coordinate Trump’s trial with the White House.
On Sunday, Massachusetts Democratic Senator and presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren suggested that President Trump had chosen to kill Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani in order to distract the American public from the impeachment proceedings. This is Warren speaking on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
Sen. Elizabeth Warren: “We know that Donald Trump was very upset about this upcoming impeachment trial. But look what he’s doing now: He is taking us to the edge of war.”