Shifts and undercuts his own justification for the Soleimani strike

After the Soleimani killing, Trump and his officials gave conflicting accounts of the 'imminent threat' that supposedly justified it. On January 10 Trump told Fox News he 'believe[d] it would have been four embassies,' a specificity that Defense Secretary Mark Esper contradicted on January 12, saying he 'didn't see' intelligence pointing to four embassies. On January 13 Trump tweeted that whether the attack was 'imminent' 'doesn't really matter because of his horrible past,' effectively abandoning the legal rationale the administration had offered Congress. A White House notification to Congress the following month omitted the word 'imminent' entirely, and critics said the shifting story showed the stated justification was constructed after the fact.

"The Fake News Media and their Democrat Partners are working hard to determine whether or not the future attack by terrorist Soleimani was 'imminent' or not, & was my team in agreement. The answer to both is a strong YES., but it doesn't really matter because of his horrible past!" Quote verified against source