House denounces Trump’s Syria decision

WASHINGTON — A bipartisan House resolution rebuking President Donald Trump for the withdrawal of U.S. troops in Syria — which led to an attack by Turkey on Kurdish fighters allied in the battle against the Islamic State — passed overwhelmingly Wednesday.

The lopsided 354-60 vote came as Trump defended his actions by saying the Kurds were “no angels” in the fighting in the region and citing the need to remove U.S. troops who fought alongside Kurdish forces against IS.

“We are not a police force — we’re a fighting force,” Trump said during a news conference with visiting Italian President Sergio Mattarella in the East Room.

Republican and Democratic lawmakers on Capitol Hill criticized the decision by the president to remove U.S. forces, which they said gave a green light to Turkey to strike across the border and create a crisis that has empowered Syria, Iran and Russia.

The House passed a resolution that said the president’s decision benefits those adversaries and called on Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to cease military actions in Syria.

“President Trump’s reckless decision to abandon our Kurdish partners in Syria has created a crisis in the region,” said Rep. Dina Titus, D-Nev., a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Titus said the decision created a “power vacuum” in the region that IS, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Syrian President Bashar Assad “are quickly filling.”

“Our allies deserve better than this,” Titus said.

Trump’s ‘biggest mistake’

Republican lawmakers were equally critical of the abrupt decision last week to pull out of northern Syria. Russian journalists posted video and pictures of a U.S. base that appeared to be hastily deserted.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a Trump ally, escalated his criticism of the president’s decision on Syria.

“He’s making the biggest mistake of his presidency,” Graham said of Trump.

Graham’s criticism prompted a retort from Trump, who told the White House news conference that Graham, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, “should focus on the judiciary.”

“Lindsey Graham would like to stay in the Middle East for the next thousand years with thousands of soldiers and fighting other people’s wars,” Trump said. “Let them fight their own wars.”

Congressional leaders met with Trump after the House vote.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said the size of the vote, including support from Republicans, had rattled the president. All House Democrats supported the resolution, with 129 Republicans, including Rep. Mark Amodei, R-Nev. There were 60 GOP members who opposed the resolution.

“He was shaken up by it,” Pelosi said of Trump’s reaction to the vote. She said the president had a “meltdown” over it.

Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Democratic leaders walked out of the meeting after Trump launched a “nasty diatribe” against Pelosi, calling her a third-rate politician.

A shortened meeting

But House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., said after the White House meeting with congressional leaders that Pelosi stormed out of the room in an undignified manner.

“The speaker tries to make everything political,” McCarthy told reporters.

Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo are heading to Turkey to meet with officials and negotiate a cease-fire, a task lawmakers in both parties said would be harder to achieve after the president’s comments Wednesday.

Trump announced earlier this week tariffs on steel exports to punish Turkey for the offensive.

Graham and Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., are crafting a sanctions bill, and a similar resolution to the one approved by the House is being drafted by Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J.

In the House, the Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., and ranking Republican Michael McCaul, R-Texas, also plan to introduce a sanctions bill.

Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney and House Republican Conference chairwoman, has filed her own sanctions bill, which has more than 90 GOP co-sponsors.

Cheney, McCaul and McCarthy voted in support of the House resolution to denounce the president’s decision to end U.S. involvement in northern Syria.

Contact Gary Martin at gmartin@reviewjournal.com or 202-662-7390. Follow @garymartindc on Twitter.