Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, one of a bipartisan group of senators asking President Donald Trump to reconsider pulling U.S. troops out of Syria, said Thursday he has not found anyone who thinks the plan is a good idea.
"There was no consultation with allies, no consultation with people in Washington who worked on the Middle East for years," Sen. King told CNN's "New Day." "It just came out of the blue on a tweet [Wednesday] morning and what really scares me is this might happen again and in some very dangerous situation."
The letter was "instantaneous," said King, rather than something that took a while, as so many lawmakers oppose Trump's move.
King said the worst thing about pulling out of Syria suddenly is "we're basically abandoning the Kurds" who have been fighting for the United States.
"They have been our key ally against ISIS in northern Iraq and Syria," King said. "We're just walking away and leaving them to the Turks, which could be really, really bad."
The move could also be seen as a recruiting tool for ISIS, King thinks.
"It is stunning," he said. "It is hard to believe that a decision of this consequence would be made, as I said at the beginning with as near as we can tell without any serious consultation or discussion."
King pointed out some of Trump's strongest supporters, including Sens. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., have signed the letter to Trump, and he hopes he will listen to it.
"There is enough wiggle room here because all we really have here is this tweet," King said. "We don't have details or timing. I think there is a way he can, in effect, back off this without a dramatic retreat."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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