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Anger Over Syria Unites Trump Defenders and His Biggest Critics

In a tweet before Trump announced his sanctions package, Pelosi said the White House proposal was insufficient.

Anger Over Syria Unites Trump Defenders and His Biggest Critics
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks at the Values Voter Summit at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, D.C., U.S. (Photographer: Pete Marovich/UPI/Bloomberg)

(Bloomberg) -- Republican Senators returning to Washington after a two-week recess will find themselves debating not only how to handle the House’s impeachment inquiry into Donald Trump but also the president’s widely condemned decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria.

“Abandoning this fight now and withdrawing U.S. forces from Syria would re-create the very conditions that we have worked hard to destroy,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, said in a statement. “I look forward to discussing what the United States can do to avoid a strategic calamity with my Senate colleagues and with senior administration officials.”

Pulling out of Syria has united one of the president’s staunchest defenders -- Republican Senator Lindsey Graham -- with the lawmaker he has identified as his primary antagonist in the impeachment probe -- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Republicans have been careful to separate their opposition to Trump’s Syria policy from any position they might take on the impeachment inquiry Democrats launched to investigate the president’s actions regarding Ukraine policy. Still, many of the Republicans who publicly criticized Trump’s troop withdrawal are the lawmakers he’ll need as his first line of defense against impeachment.

Graham and Pelosi said Monday they will work together to impose sanctions on Turkey for its military offensive in Syria, which sparked bipartisan anger and concern for Kurdish fighters who helped the U.S. combat Islamic State.

Anger Over Syria Unites Trump Defenders and His Biggest Critics

But Senate Democrats may not be satisfied with a sanctions package, even if it goes beyond what Trump has already indicated he will impose. In a statement Monday, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, along with Senators Jack Reed and Bob Menendez, the ranking members of the Senate Armed Services and Foreign Relations Committee, respectively, said sanctions alone will not be enough to resolve the situation.

“President Trump’s withdrawal of U.S. forces is contributing to the chaos and havoc Turkey is causing in northeastern Syria,” they said. “The first step when Congress returns to session this week is for Republicans to join with us in passing a resolution making clear that both parties are demanding the president’s decision be reversed.”

Trump said last week that he would withdraw U.S. forces from the region, which cleared the way for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to launch an operation that has drawn international condemnation, accusations of war crimes and a threat of U.S. and European sanctions.

Responding to the backlash, Trump said Monday he will raise steel tariffs on Turkey back to 50%, the level before a reduction in May, and halt negotiations over a trade pact. Trump also said his administration will sanction current and former Turkish government officials and anyone contributing to Turkey’s “destabilization actions in northeast Syria.”

Vice President Mike Pence said that he would lead a delegation to Turkey at Trump’s request in an effort to stop the military advance. Graham, in a statement late Monday, said he welcomed the administration’s attempt to try to negotiate an end to Turkey’s aggression.

Graham described Trump’s sanctions effort as “crippling” and urged lawmakers of both parties to continue speaking out against Turkey’s military actions in northern Syria.

“The president’s team has a plan and I intend to support them as strongly as possible, and to give them reasonable time and space to achieve our mutual goals,” Graham said in a statement on Monday evening.

In a tweet before Trump announced his sanctions package, Pelosi said the White House proposal was insufficient. That tweet came after Pelosi spoke with Graham about sanctions, when she also called for a joint resolution from the House and Senate to reverse Trump’s actions in Syria.

Last week, Graham was one of Trump’s most outspoken critics regarding the withdrawal of troops from Syria. He presented a framework for Turkey sanctions last week that would target Turkish leaders, as well as any foreign national who provides support to the Turkish military or supports Turkish energy production used by its armed forces.

“I will be working across party lines in a bicameral fashion to draft sanctions and move quickly,” Graham said in a tweet Monday morning. “The Speaker indicated to me that time was of the essence.”

Both chambers of Congress have put forward proposals to punish Turkey for its rapid invasion, which has killed Kurdish civilians and left prisons holding Islamic State fighters unsecured.

Senator Chris Van Hollen, a Maryland Democrat who will cosponsor Graham’s sanctions bill, called Trump’s sanctions proposal a “pathetic response.” In a tweet Monday, Van Hollen said Congress must “stay the course and enact tough sanctions that impact Turkish conduct.”

The leading House Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Texas Representative Michael McCaul, also said Trump’s proposal is insufficient. McCaul and Democratic chairman Eliot Engel presented a bipartisan sanctions bill last week.

”We appreciate the Administration’s planned sanctions, but it does not go far enough to punish Turkey for its egregious offenses in Syria,” McCaul spokeswoman Kaylin Minton said in an emailed statement.

--With assistance from Saleha Mohsin and Jennifer Jacobs.

To contact the reporter on this story: Daniel Flatley in Washington at dflatley1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Joe Sobczyk at jsobczyk@bloomberg.net, Anna Edgerton

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