Not that it comes as a surprise, but Donald Trump is admitting to his comrades that he killed Iranian General Soleimani because he felt pressure from GOP colleagues that would decide his impeachment trial.

The administration has made a slapdash case for why it chose to assassinate Soleimani, but the main arguments have been that he was planning to attack Americans within days, and that the US would always respond forcefully after US citizens were killed. In December, an Iranian-backed militia killed an American contractor in Iraq.

But the Wall Street Journal on Thursday night included an eye-popping tidbit in its story about how Trump came to green-light the Soleimani operation: “Mr. Trump, after the strike, told associates he was under pressure to deal with Gen. Soleimani from GOP senators he views as important supporters in his coming impeachment trial in the Senate, associates said.”

In a lengthy piece detailing how the president’s top advisers coalesced behind the strike on Iranian Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the Journal noted that Trump said he felt “under pressure” to satisfy senators who were pushing for stronger US action against Soleimani and who will run defense for him on impeachment.

One of Trump’s most outspoken supporters, GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham was reportedly the only congressional lawmaker Trump briefed about his plan to assassinate Soleimani in the days leading up to the strike.

In other words, the president felt the need to shore up support from some unnamed Republican lawmakers ahead of his imminent Senate impeachment trial.

It’s important to note that the above passage is just a short paragraph in a much longer piece about the inner workings of the Trump administration’s Soleimani discussions. And so far there is no other evidence to suggest that Trump didn’t give the order mainly to deter Iran from threatening Americans, although it’s unclear just how “imminent” that threat truly was.

But if Trump did consider impeachment when opting to kill the Iranian general — even if for a moment — then this is quite the scandal. It would mean the president didn’t just have the interests of the nation or the world in mind when bringing the US and Iran to the brink of war, but also his own personal political interests.

More reporting is needed to see just how much impeachment weighed on Trump’s mind when he gave the order. At a minimum, though, the Wall Street Journal’s reporting calls into question the legality of Trump’s Soleimani strike and the true intention behind it. And at worst, Trump’s decision to kill a foreign leader — as much as he may have deserved his fate — partly for political gain, is arguably impeachable on its own.