On today's edition of the Midday News Wrap, a look at three stories topping the news this week.

The U-S-Iran Crisis: The US and Iran have been teetering on the brink of war since a U.S. drone strike ordered last Friday by President Trump killed the influential Iranian general Qassim Soleimani and others near the Baghdad airport. After staging a massive public funeral for their assassinated general, Iran retaliated on Wednesday by launching ballistic missiles into two airbases in Iraq, causing no casualties and little damage. But four hours later, a Ukrainian airliner mysteriously crashed just minutes after leaving the Tehran airport, killing all 176 people aboard. Western leaders say an errant Iranian missile might have brought the plane down. Joining Tom on the line to sort out the complexities of the US-Iran crisis is Steven Simon. He’s an analyst at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft in Washington, a professor of international relations at Colby College, in Waterville, Maine, and a former senior director on the National Security Council for both the Clinton and Obama administrations...

The Impeachment Impasse: More than three weeks after the Democrat-led House of Representatives' historic vote to approve two articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has refused to deliver the articles to the Senate until, she has said, Republican leader Mitch McConnell provides certain assurances about the "arena" in which the President will be tried. Reports Friday indicated Pelosi might be ready to deliver the articles early next week, but it remains unclear what kind of trial the Republican-led Senate is ready to conduct for Mr. Trump. Tom talks with David Drucker, senior poltical correspondent for the Washington Examiner, and a contributor to Vanity Fair, about the political and legal strategies playing out in this high-stakes constitutional drama.

The Democratic 2020 Presidential Campaigns: As new polling data show surprising shifts in the standings of the 2020 Democratic presidential candidates , Tom talks with Politico reporter Zach Montellaro about how the leading contenders are jockeying for position ahead of next week's televised debate in Iowa, and next month's start of the 2020 primary election season.

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