ASSASSINATION/ELECTION/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Trump was deep in discussion with political advisers going over campaign plans at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida just before 5 p.m. Thursday when he was abruptly summoned to another meeting. A while later, he returned just as mysteriously, jumping back into the conversation without offering a clue to what was going on. In those few minutes, according to multiple people briefed on the events, Mr. Trump had made one of the most consequential foreign policy decisions of his presidency, giving final authorization to a drone strike halfway around the world that would eliminate one of America’s deadliest enemies while pushing the United States to the edge of an escalating confrontation with Iran that could transform the Middle East.”
–Eric Schmitt, Helene Cooper, Thomas Gibbons-Neff, Maggie Haberman and Peter Baker, “For Trump, a Risky Decision on Suleimani Is One Other Presidents Had Avoided,” The New York Times online, January 3, 2020