Lindsey Graham suggests Trump may have changed his mind on pulling troops out of Syria: 'I think the president's going to finish the job when it comes to ISIS'
- Senator Lindsey Graham may have changed President Trump's mind about pulling troops out of Syria.
- "I think the president's going to finish the job when it comes to ISIS," Graham told reporters after meeting with President Trump Sunday.
- Trump's decision earlier this month to order his staff to execute the "full" and "rapid" withdrawal of US military from Syria was met with harsh criticism from Republicans and Democrats alike.
"We are in a pause situation," said Senator Lindsey Graham on pulling out US troops from Syria.
After a White House lunch with President Trump, Graham indicated that Trump may have changed his mind on on the highly criticized decision to pull out of Syria.
"I think the president's going to finish the job when it comes to ISIS," Graham said.
Staying in Syria would be a change from Trump's plan to pull out completely, which he has defended over the last two weeks. Graham told reporters on Sunday afternoon, "He [President Trump] told me some things I didn't know that made me feel a lot better about where we're headed in Syria."
Trump's decision earlier this month to order his staff to execute the "full" and "rapid" withdrawal of US military from Syria was met with harsh criticism from Republicans and Democrats alike. Hours after the announcement, Graham took to the Senate floor to call Trump's decision "dishonorable" and "a stain on the honor of the United States."
"We need to keep our troops there. They're inside the ten-yard line in defeating ISIS, but we're not there yet. If we leave now, the Kurds are going to get slaughtered," Graham told CNN's Dana Bash on Sunday morning.
After meeting with President Trump at a White House lunch, Graham told reporters, "We're slowing things down in a smart way."
"We still have some differences," Graham acknowledge, "but I will tell you that the president is thinking long and hard about Syria - how to withdraw our forces but at the same time achieve our national security interests."