On Politics: Pompeo Accuses Iran of ‘Act of War’

The secretary of state blamed Iran for the recent attack on Saudi oil facilities.

View in browser|nytimes.com SEPTEMBER 19, 2019

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

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo accused Iran on Wednesday of having carried out an "act of war" with aerial strikes on oil facilities in Saudi Arabia last weekend. Despite Mr. Pompeo's statement, President Trump pushed back against another American military entanglement in the Middle East, speaking only of unspecified new sanctions on Iran.

Moving to reconstruct his foreign policy staff in the midst of tension with Iran, the president announced on Twitter that Robert C. O'Brien, the State Department's chief hostage negotiator, will replace John R. Bolton as national security adviser.

Mr. Bolton's main problem as national security adviser was that he knew too much. Mr. O'Brien flips that equation. He is a former Los Angeles lawyer with limited government experience before he became the department's point man for hostage negotiations.

South Carolina — where black voters dominate the Democratic electorate — delivered a huge setback to Senator Bernie Sanders in early 2016. He knows things need to be different this time.

At a Latinos for Trump rally in New Mexico on Monday, voters eschewed the label and instead identified as Hispanic to create separation from the Latinos at the border.

As he runs for president, Joseph R. Biden Jr. has trumpeted his ability to work with Republicans, including Senator Mitch McConnell. Democrats today view that as antiquated and unrealistic. A list of potential gun safety proposals floated by the Trump administration appears to be headed nowhere on Capitol Hill, where Republicans and Democrats remain highly skeptical of where the president stands.

The Federal Reserve cut interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point on Wednesday, a move that was divisive among Fed officials and aggravated Mr. Trump, who has been pushing the central bank for much deeper cuts.

The White House will pull the nomination of Jeffrey Byard to be the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency after an inquiry into a possible barroom altercation prompted concern. The administration is expected to nominate the current acting administrator of FEMA, Peter T. Gaynor, to lead the agency instead. A Renaissance-style tableau for a divided Washington shows you everything you need to know about impeachment.

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

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