| THE TOPLINE: As North and South Korea make progress toward cooling tensions on the peninsula, President Trump is ratcheting up his rhetoric. The Hill's Jordan Fabian reports on the fallout from Trump's "nuclear button" tweet: President Trump's tweet that he commands a "much bigger & more powerful" nuclear launch button than North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has sparked a backlash while renewing fears about the possibility of nuclear war. The warning has also prompted a number of Trump critics to again question the president's fitness as commander in chief. Trump tweeted in response to a New Year's Day statement from Kim about his own "nuclear button," which came as South Korea took steps toward deescalating the situation by opening talks with Pyongyang. "North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un just stated that the 'Nuclear Button is on his desk at all times,'" Trump tweeted. "Will someone from his depleted and food starved regime please inform him that I too have a Nuclear Button, but it is a much bigger & more powerful one than his, and my Button works!" Lawmakers, national security experts and media figures, most of them already vocal critics of the president, voiced deep concern over Trump's tweet, calling it rash and unnerving for a man who has thousands of nuclear weapons at his disposal while confronting an unpredictable, nuclear-armed enemy. Read more on the backlash here. NORTH, SOUTH KOREA REOPEN HOTLINE: Meanwhile, on the Korean peninsula, North and South Korea operated a hotline for the first time in almost two years. A first call at about 3:30 p.m. local time last 20 minutes and was meant to make sure the line worked. A second call happened hours later. The calls, which happened after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un authorized reopening the communications channel, comes as Pyongyang and Seoul explore the possibility of high-level talks focused on North Korea participating in the Winter Olympics. Read more on the hotline here. WHITE HOUSE DEFENDS TRUMP TWEET: White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Wednesday said that it's "just a fact" that President Trump commands a "larger" nuclear button than North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Sanders at a press briefing dismissed concerns that Trump's tweet boasting about the size and strength of the U.S. nuclear arsenal was intended to taunt Kim, who claimed this week that he has a nuclear launch button on the desk in his office. "I don't think that it's taunting to stand up for the people of this country," she said. "I think what's dangerous is to ignore the continued threats." When a reporter pointed out that the president does not, in fact, have a nuclear launch button on his desk -- as Trump had suggested -- Sanders said that he was "very well aware" of the process for launching a nuclear strike. Read more from The Hill's Max Greenwood here. LATEST ON IRAN PROTESTS: President Trump on Wednesday promised Iranian anti-government protestors "great support from the United States at the appropriate time." "Such respect for the people of Iran as they try to take back their corrupt government," Trump tweeted in his latest show of support for the protestors. "You will see great support from the United States at the appropriate time!" Read more here. Meanwhile, a top State Department official said Wednesday the administration is not pursuing regime change in Iran. Andrew Peek, deputy assistant secretary of State for Iraq and Iran, said in an interview with The National that the administration is trying to alter the behavior of the Iran's current leadership. "We are not talking about anything else. What we would like to see above all is the regime change its behavior, in a whole lot of ways, but in particular towards the protesters," Peek said. Read more on the interview here. In Iran itself, protests continued after nightfall after a day of pro-government rallies and the Revolutionary Guard deploying to the hotbeds of the anti-government protests, Reuters reports here. SENATE CONFIRMS EX-LOCKHEED EXEC FOR PENTAGON POST: The Senate on Wednesday confirmed former Lockheed Martin executive John Rood to be under secretary of Defense for policy. Lawmakers voted 81-7, with Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Kamala Harris(D-Calif.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) voting no. Rood, previously the senior vice president of Lockheed Martin International, served in several roles during the George W. Bush administration. He will now take the Pentagon's top policy job, after the White House in October named him for the position. The confirmation process wasn't without its hurdles. Some lawmakers in November had expressed concern over Rood's future interactions with his former company. Rood had signed a White House ethics pledge to recuse himself from all decisions involving Lockheed for two years and divest himself from the defense contractor. But he would not confirm to Warren that he would not seek a waiver that would allow him to participate in matters involving the defense contractor as under secretary. Ellen Mitchell has more on Rood here. PENTAGON IDENTIFIES SOLDIER KILLED IN AFGHANISTAN: The Pentagon on Wednesday identified the soldier killed in a New Year's Day firefight in eastern Afghanistan. Sgt. 1st Class Mihail Golin, 34, of Fort Lee, N.J., died Monday in Nangarhar province in what U.S. Forces Afghanistan previously described as a "combat engagement." Wednesday's news release from the Pentagon elaborated that Golin was killed by enemy small arms fire while on a dismounted patrol. Read the rest here. ON TAP FOR TOMORROW: Author Michael Fabey will discuss his book "Crashback: The Power Clash Between the U.S. and China in the Pacific" at 11 a.m. at the Heritage Foundation. http://bit.ly/2Aiqmn7 ICYMI: -- The Hill: White House names picks for top Air Force, Pentagon acquisition posts -- The Hill: House Dem calls for bill to restrict Trump's ability to launch preemptive nukes -- The Hill: Pentagon: Two militants dead in Somali airstrike -- The Hill: Trump ratchets up support for demonstrators in Iran -- The Hill: Opinion: US must verify that China doesn't ease off North Korea sanctions -- The Hill: Opinion: Olympic cooldown can help bring North Korea to negotiating table | 
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