US President Donald Trump was reportedly enjoying meatloaf and ice cream in his so-called Winter White House, Mar-a-Lago, with US House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and other officials, when the Department of Defence confirmed the successful attack and assassination of the Iranian general on Friday, according to CNN.
A series of photos of the “historic” dinner were posted by McCarthy on Twitter and Instagram on Friday. The photos show Trump, McCarthy, Trump’s social media adviser Dan Scavino, and White House Deputy Press Secretary Hogan Gidley. The president’s senior adviser and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, has also appears on one of the photographs.
“Last night was a memorable and historic evening at Mar-a-Lago—the Winter White House. Proud of our President for taking decisive action,” the Republican house minority leader tweeted.
Last night was a memorable and historic evening at Mar-a-Lago—the Winter White House. Proud of our President for taking decisive action! 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/VjuChrZyOH
— Kevin McCarthy (@GOPLeader) January 3, 2020
This story is reminiscent of Trump's claim that he was eating a “beautiful piece of chocolate cake” with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, when US forces carried out a missile attack in Syria in April 2017.
"I said, Mr. President, let me explain something to you — this was during dessert,” Trump said at that time. “We’ve just fired 59 missiles, all of which hit, by the way, unbelievable, from, you know, hundreds of miles away, all of which hit, amazing. Brilliant. It’s so incredible. It’s brilliant. It’s genius.”
On Friday, US forces conducted a drone attack near the primary Baghdad airport, targeting a vehicle containing Soleimani, the commander of the Quds Force, an elite unit of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
Trump claimed that he gave the order to the Pentagon to assassinate the Iranian general. The Pentagon stated that killings, carried out near Iraq's Baghdad International Airport, were aimed at "deterring future Iranian attack plans."
Following the attack, Iranian leadership said that the United States had crossed a "red line". Iran's supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, stated that a "harsh retaliation is waiting" for the United States.
