Trump Now Says U.S. Military 'Should Never Ever Have Left' Iraq [View all]
Source: Talking Points Memo
By MATT SHUHAM Published MARCH 20, 2017, 5:58 PM EDT
Contrary to a series of past statements on the issue, President Donald Trump said Monday that the U.S. military “should never ever have left” Iraq in 2011.
“Certainly we shouldn’t have left. We should never ever have left,” Trump told Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi at the White House. “And a vacuum was created, and we discussed what happened.”
“But we’ll spend a lot of time with you, with your group, and thank you all very much for being here, we appreciate it,” Trump continued. “And we will figure something out. Our main thrust is we have to get rid of ISIS. We’re going to get rid of ISIS. It will happen, it’s happening right now."
Trump has a rich history of changing opinions on the war in Iraq. He was for the United States’ 2003 invasion of the country before his opinion changed somewhat, first evidenced in a 2004 Esquire interview ("Look at the war in Iraq and the mess that we're in. I would never have handled it that way.”)
Read more: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/trump-says-us-military-should-not-have-left-iraq
Iraqi Prime Minister Jokes: 'We Had Nothing To Do' With Wiretaps
By ESME CRIBB Published MARCH 20, 2017, 4:17 PM EDT
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi joked on Monday that his country "had nothing to do" with wiretaps, a subject Trump raised more than two weeks ago and has refused to back away from.
"We had nothing to do with the wiretap," Abadi joked in front of reporters, according to a White House pool report.
FBI Director James Comey on Monday told the House Intelligence Committee that he had "no information" to support Trump's unsubstantiated claims that President Barack Obama wiretapped Trump Tower before the 2016 election.
"I have no information that supports those tweets," Comey said. "And we looked carefully inside the FBI."
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http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/iraqi-prime-minister-we-had-nothing-to-do-with-wiretap
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