Overnight Defense: Latest on Iran after Trump halts planed strike | Dems call Trump’s approach ‘erratic’ | Key Republican urges Trump to retaliate | Esper reportedly getting Defense secretary nomination

Happy Friday and welcome to Overnight Defense. I’m Rebecca Kheel, and here’s your nightly guide to the latest developments at the Pentagon, on Capitol Hill and beyond. CLICK HERE to subscribe to the newsletter.

 

THE TOPLINE: President Trump confirmed the U.S. military was “cocked and loaded” to retaliate against Iran after the country shot down a U.S. surveillance drone, but backed off at the last minute.

In a series of tweets, Trump said he opted not to follow through because he felt the response would not be “proportionate” to the Iranian action. The president said he learned just 10 minutes before the strike that 150 Iranians would die and decided to call off the mission.

“We were cocked & loaded to retaliate last night on 3 different sights [sic] when I asked, how many will die. 150 people, sir, was the answer from a General. 10 minutes before the strike I stopped it, not proportionate to shooting down an unmanned drone,” Trump tweeted.{mosads}

In an interview later Friday with NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Trump clarified the timeline of his decision. He said he had not yet given a final order but that planes were “ready to go” in about a half hour when he asked for a clearer explanation of potential casualties.

“I thought about it for a second and I said, ‘You know what? They shot down an unmanned drone, plane, whatever you want to call it. And here we are sitting with 150 dead people that would have taken place probably within a half an hour after I said go ahead,'” Trump said. “And I didn’t like it. I didn’t think it was proportionate.”

Dems react: House Democrats are hammering Trump for what they are characterizing as his “erratic” approach to escalating tensions with Iran.

Democratic lawmakers said they were relieved by Trump’s remarks on Friday that he called off a military strike on Iran.

But that’s where the praise ends.

The president, Democrats charge, has no cohesive strategy for deescalating the conflict; has neglected the consultations to inform such a plan; and appears hell-bent on goading Iran into war. The confluence of factors has led many Democrats to begin calling for a resolution prohibiting military action against Iran without explicit congressional authorization.

“This administration has been going out of its way to try to provoke Iran to go to war,” said Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), chairman of the powerful House Rules Committee. “And I don’t have a lot of confidence in the national security team that surrounds this president, and I certainly don’t have any confidence in Donald Trump’s ability to keep us out of war.”

“His statements and his views are erratic on this, and I think … the American people want us to be able to make sure that he doesn’t start a war on an impulse,” McGovern added.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) amplified her earlier warning that Trump will have a fight on his hands if he tries to launch military operations against Iran without congressional approval.

“We think there are many options that are not what they call kinetic — that is to say, strikes on the country — that might be more useful,” Pelosi told reporters in the Capitol.

GOP rebuttal: The top Republican on the House Homeland Security Committee said Trump must retaliate quickly against Iran to deter other hostile nations like North Korea and Russia from taking “provocative” acts toward the U.S.

Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.) said Trump already has the authority to launch strikes against Iran for shooting down a U.S. military drone this week and does not need to seek approval from Congress.

Trump “did consult with Congress as he was trying to decide what action to take, but when you have a country like Iran shoot down an American drone in international air space, I don’t think we need to have three months of argument in the Congress to decide what needs to be done,” Rogers said during an appearance on C-SPAN’s “Newsmakers.”

“We have him as a commander in chief to make decisions like this. I don’t care if it’s a Republican or Democrat; I felt the same way about Barack Obama when he was president.”

 

ESPER GETTING THE NOD: All these Iran issue are happening without a permanent Defense secretary in place.

But several reports Friday said Trump will formally nominate Mark Esper to take over the role.

Trump chose Esper, currently the secretary of the Army, to be acting Defense secretary after Patrick Shanahan stepped down from the role and withdrew his bid for the nomination earlier this week, and Esper’s first official day on the job is Monday.

Esper, who was confirmed by the Senate 89-6 in the fall of 2017, is a former infantry officer and previously served as a top executive at the defense contractor Raytheon.

Not unexpected: The reports Friday came after Trump signaled he’d choose Esper earlier in the week.

Asked Tuesday whether he would consider nominating Esper, Trump told reporters, “Most likely, that’s what I’m thinking about doing.”

“I think, frankly, this could happen very quickly for Mark Esper. He’s very experienced. He’s been around all of the things that we’re talking about for a very long period of time,” Trump said.

 

NDAA WATCH: The Senate has another procedural vote set for Monday evening to officially start debate on its National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).

The bill has already hit a familiar speed bump: Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.).

Armed Services Committee Chairman Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) told reporters Thursday that Paul is slow-walking the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), including forcing lawmakers to wait until next week to formally proceed to the defense bill.

“He could actually block this for a long period of time,” Inhofe said, adding that lawmakers need to finish the bill by the end of next week.

Paul said on Thursday he isn’t blocking the bill, but instead requiring leadership to run out the procedural clock.

Background: It’s a familiar dynamic over the defense legislation. A fight between Paul and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) led to an amendment bottleneck last year, and the bill faced a similar stalemate over amendments in 2017.

The NDAA’s status as a must-pass piece of legislation makes it a lightning rod for hundreds of amendments, only a handful of which get votes. It also allows members to effectively block votes on any other amendments or on speeding up consideration of the bill, unless they also are guaranteed an amendment vote.

 

ON TAP FOR MONDAY

The James W. Foley Legacy Foundation and New America will launch a report on U.S. hostage policy at 12:15 p.m. https://bit.ly/2XySTVi

 

ICYMI

— The Hill: Trump speaks with Saudi crown prince after calling off Iran strike

— The Hill: Navy will name rescue ship ‘Cherokee Nation’ to honor tribe’s contributions to the military

— The Hill: NATO planning to name space a new defense frontier: report

— Associated Press: Europeans urge US, Iran to step back from confrontation

— The Washington Post: Senate aims to force White House’s hand on North Korea with mandatory sanctions