News Information and Media Site: On Politics A.M.: Trump Orders Killing of Top Iranian General

January 3, 2020

Good Friday morning. Here are some of the stories making news in Washington and politics today.

President Trump ordered the killing of the commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps, Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani, in a Baghdad drone strike early Friday, American officials said. It was a major escalation of Mr. Trump’s “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran.
General Suleimani was one of Iran’s most cunning and autonomous military figures, and some saw him as a potential future leader of the country.
A flood of money rushed into the presidential race in the last three months of 2019, producing an unusually large number of Democratic candidates with the resources to battle deep into the 2020 primary calendar. The five strongest fund-raisers in the field of 14 are expected to report well over $115 million raised in just the final quarter of the year.

Who raised the most this quarter? Senator Bernie Sanders. His campaign brought in more than $34.5 million, yet another display of his enduring financial might, fueled by a huge base of grass-roots donors.

Former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. had a fund-raising rebound, raising $22.7 million. It’s a significant improvement from the previous quarter, but it did not vault him to the top of the Democratic pack.
In a surprising twist, the entrepreneur Andrew Yang raised more than $16.5 million in the fourth quarter. That sum is likely to put him among the Democratic field’s top five fund-raisers.

Julián Castro, the former housing secretary and mayor of San Antonio, ended his presidential run. He was the only Latino candidate and a champion of progressive policies, but he struggled to catch on with voters.

More than 200 Republican members of Congress asked the Supreme Court to consider overturning Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 opinion establishing a woman’s right to an abortion.

The editor of Christianity Today, a prominent evangelical magazine, told The New York Times in an interview that he was struck by the quiet support he received, as well as the vocal criticism, after he published an editorial calling for Mr. Trump’s impeachment on his last day as editor of the publication.

Today’s On Politics briefing was compiled by Isabella Grullón Paz in New York.

Is there anything you think we’re missing? Anything you want to see more of? We’d love to hear from you. Email us at onpolitics@nytimes.com.