so, this is now becoming more and more revealed and folks sit back and go, maybe there is a there there. phil rucker, mike pence in the driveway. how do you say that there was no green light? this takes a heap of denial from top to bottom that this didn t entirely change when donald trump hung up the phone with erdogan. i mean, brian, it all change when donald trump hang up the phone with erdogan. part of what was going on there, president trump was not following a script, he was kind of rif ing with president erdogan. he was not following the direction of his advisers. for months now the national security team around the president has been warning him about the dangers, about the risks of pulling troops back out of syria, about this series of
it gets worse by the hour, chris. these are all the exact things we warned them, if they do this incursi incursion, we ll see everything from release of isis prisoners, humanitarian catastrophe, damage relations with turkey. this is all playing out exactly as we predicted. we urge president erdogan to stop and go back to the status quo. secretary of defense, happens to be a substantial guy. listen to the tone. we ve warned them, they better not do this. they were given a tacit green light by any definition. brian, here is what s important. other leaders have figured out that one person makes a decision in this administration, it s president trump. and so they can just completely shut out and ignore anything that is said by anybody else, because erdogan can go to trump himself and get the answer he wanted to here which is go ahead, come on in to syria. we ll pull back. we ll pull out.
out to the microphones outside the west wing lobby to announce he s imposing sanctions on turkey for their actions in syria. and try to tamp down the blowback that trump has received from members of his own party. and a heads up here. as you listen to vice president pence, please remember, this is his boss own doing. the united states of america did not give a green light to turkey to invade syria. the president has been very clear on that point and reiterated that to president erdogan today. president trump pressed him very strongly in a telephone call today to immediately embrace a cease fire. that guy is now going to the rescue. mike pence says he will travel to the region to work out a cease fire. meanwhile, the kurdish troops who were u.s. allies have turned to the government of syrian president bashir al assad and to
listen if you can to this next story. it s been four months and two days since the disappearance and murder of the journalist jamal khashoggi. this morning, so many issues remain unresolved. the washington post columnist was allegedly kills and dismembered october 2nd by saudi agents. turkish president erdogan today renewing his call for a full investigation and slamming the u.s. for its continued silence on the case. this even after the cia concluded that the saudi crown prince personally ordered khashoggi s killing. president trump has signaled the u.s. will not take strong action against saudi arabia. meanwhile, khashoggi s former employee, the washington post, released this ad during last night s super bowl. it was moving. we exercise our rights. when we soar to our greatest heights. when we mourn and pray. the spot also honored khashoggi and other journalists