Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., told reporters Sunday that “I feel pretty good about where we’re headed” in Syria after suggesting that President Trump is “reconsidering” the planned pullout which had drawn bipartisan criticism and forced the resignation of Defense Secretary James Mattis.
Graham emerged from the White House after a two-hour lunch with Trump and said the president “told me some things I didn’t know that make me feel a lot better about where we’re headed in Syria.”
“He promised to destroy ISIS. He’s going to keep that promise,” Graham said of Trump. “We’re not there yet. But as I said today, we’re inside the 10-yard line and the president understands the need to finish the job.”
Earlier Sunday, Graham called on Trump to reverse his decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria in a wide-ranging interview broadcast on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
“If we leave now, the Kurds are going to get slaughtered,” Graham told host Dana Bash, adding that Trump had discussed the matter with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford and was “reconsidering how we do this.”
“He’s frustrated. I get it. People should pay more. They should fight more,” Graham said. “But we’re not the policemen of the world here. We’re fighting a war against ISIS. They’re still not defeated in Syria. I’m asking the president to make sure that we have troops there to protect us. Don’t outsource our national security to some foreign power. If we leave now, the Kurds are going to get into a fight with Turkey, they could get slaughtered.” – READ MORE