Trump calls House Speaker Pelosi ‘third-rate politician’

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that Turkey’s attack on Kurds in northeastern Syria “has nothing to do with us.” As the U.S. is blamed for having withdrawn its military forces abandoning its ally, Kurds, President Trump denied the country’s responsibility.

The president underlined that the fight between Syria and Turkey is “not our border” during a press conference at the White House before a summit meeting with Italian President Sergio Mattarella. “We have spent a tremendous amount of money helping the Kurds,” Trump added. He also repeated the Kurds are “no angels,” along with a claim that the Kurdistan Workers' Party, a Kurdish militant leading the separatist movement, is far more extreme and poses a bigger threat of terror attacks than the Islamic State.

It seemed that the U.S. was raising its criticism against Turkey by announcing economic sanctions against the country for a while, however, experts say that Trump is now trying to put distance from Kurds in favor of Turkey with higher value as a security and economic ally, for example, as in the case of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

President Trump had a meeting in the evening of the same day to discuss the issues surrounding Turkey and Kurds with bipartisan leadership, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of the Democratic Party, as well as Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. However, the president harshly criticized Pelosi, even calling her a “third-rate politician,” in response to which the democratic leadership soon left the meeting.

Earlier on the same day, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution condemning the president’s decision to withdraw the U.S. forces from northern Syria in a 354 to 60 vote. The resolution stated a stance against the withdrawal of the U.S. troops from northern Syria and called for the suspension of military operation by Turkey in Syria.


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