Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford told House and Senate members on Friday President Donald Trump had no further action planned following the missile attack against a military air base in Syria Thursday, the Washington Examiner reported.
"It was planned as a one-strike mission," Sen. Ben Cardin, of Maryland, top Democrat on the Foreign Affairs Committee, said following the meeting. "Depending on the reaction, that is what I think the administration intends it to be."
Thursday's strike came after a chemical attack in northern Syria earlier in the week that killed scores of people. Lawmakers said they expected the president would provide them with a strategy for dealing with potential fallout from the attack.
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) said after the meeting he thought Congress would be involved in formulating further plans, but was interested to see what the president outlines first.
"The events of April 4 were unforeseen and they had to be addressed," Rubio said. "But, the work of a more comprehensive strategy will continue and I believe will be concluded in short order. Congress can help guide a strategy and that is what we intend to do."
According to those in attendance, Dunford explained the logistics and timeline of the strike and what led to the decision to implement it. He also told lawmakers the U.S. had largely destroyed the air base Assad used to launch the aircraft carrying the chemical weapons.
Democratic Rep. Chris Murphy (Conn.), also in attendance, said he believed it to be “the beginning of the end of strikes with respect to this chemical weapons attack.”
There were bipartisan calls from lawmakers for more information about the strike, and were told in the meeting Vice President Mike Pence would soon brief them on legalities of the president's ability to plan the attack.
"In the coming days I expect the administration to lay out their basis and legal justification for taking action," Sen Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said. "I'll wait to assess the administration's argument."
Former Secretary of State John Kerry who served under former President Barack Obama lauded the missile strike, saying he was “absolutely supportive” of the effort. Obama refused to pursue military action against Syria following previous reports of chemical weapons attacks by the Syrian government.
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