Trump trashes Graham over criticism of Syria policy

Washington CNN — President Donald Trump slammed one of his key allies on Capitol Hill, Sen. Lindsey Graham, over his approach to Turkey’s incursion in Syria. Trump said during a news conference at the White House Wednesday afternoon that Graham “would like to stay in the Middle East for the next thousand years.” The President suggesting that the South Carolina Republican should instead focus on investigating various members of the intelligence community Trump thinks tried to sway the 2016 presidential election against him. But Graham has long been one of the most hawkish members of Congress, while Trump has been more adamant about pulling US troops from what he has called “endless wars.” Trump told reporters on Wednesday that Turkey’s incursion of northern Syria “has nothing to do with us” and added that the former US allies that US forces left behind in Syria – the Kurds – are “not angels.” Graham said Trump’s comments “undercut” the negotiating position of the high-level delegation heading to Turkey Wednesday night, which includes Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. “I hope President Trump is right in his belief that Turkeys invasion of Syria is of no concern to us, abandoning the Kurds won’t come back to haunt us, ISIS won’t reemerge, and Iran will not fill the vacuum created by this decision,” Graham tweeted earlier Wednesday. “However, I firmly believe that if President Trump continues to make such statements this will be a disaster worse than President Obama’s decision to leave Iraq.” Graham also told reporters that he believes Trump is not listening to his own advisers, adding that Trump is “making the biggest mistake of his presidency by assuming the Kurds are better off today than they were yesterday.” But he stopped short of saying he wouldn’t support Trump’s reelection over his decision to pull US troops from northern Syria, adding that the foreign policy approaches of some Democrats running for president are “no better.” Graham is set to hold a news conference on Thursday to introduce bipartisan legislation which would “impose severe sanctions on Turkish officials in response to their incursion into northern Syria,” Graham’s office said in a statement.