can you tell me what our response has been to the russian ministry of defense with respect to this statement? senator, my guess, the response would be most appropriately from the department of defense and not from the department of state but i i will humbly suggest to you to have more confidence in statements of general votel than the russian ministry of defense. i do have more confidence in general votel s statement and seems to me that our response to the russian ministry of defense ought to be very strong to say, they have nothing to say about what our generals are doing in syria. that s not their business. that s our business. and i would hope that that s a point that we make very strongly. i had the opportunity to visit syria. a little over two weeks ago. and i was very impressed with the work that our military has been doing in northern northeast syria along the turkish border. i was very impressed with the
president has gotten some concessions from the european 81 june that would avoid a trade war. there s no way to confirm this. the two have been talking about ways they could get around their differences. the president proposed in the europeans seemed to be open to lowering tariffs on both sides. the president says to zeros. the europeans says not quite zero but we would be open to that as well. if it looks like they have struck a deal, that would lift stocks, which was happening. we re monitoring that. when they come to the podium, we ll take you there. now back to this senate grilling of mike pompeo. senator, it s not for me to discuss the contents of those conversations. i can tell you each time that i ve spoke with president trump before helsinki and after, iran has been a central point that we ve focused on with respect to u.s. policy in syria. i m confident it will remain so. so in an interview, general
yes. about our plan. absolutely. so yesterday may have been the first time he was briefed about it. i m going to ask about general votel, the information that senator shaheen mentioned earlier. he expressed weariness about working with russia and the russian defense ministry. this is an interesting state. they went after general votel, the head of centcom that oversees military operations in the middle east. he dis credcredited the officia position of the commander-in-chief. do you know what that is? you have to speak with the russian ministry of defense to know. you can understand why we re concerned. if it s being reported in the russian press and secretary flake and senator shaheen said they re talking about official positions that the president has outlined. as far as you know, general
votel s statements did not violate any information position of the united states, did they? you seem to be giving a great deal of credit to the russian defense. let me ask you about general votel. i don t have i have great belief in his truthfulness. so you don t believe any of the statements he s read violate any official position of the united states, do you? if you would, best approach general votel and the department of defense. if i could introduce for the record, there s an interesting article in buzz feed news recently today. that just list as whole series of headlines. these are struckive, mr. chairman. trump s announcement that he will end u.s. korean drills catches the pentagon off guard. pentagon caught off guard by space force announcement. trump signals withdrawal of troops from syria spenting pentagon and state department. pentagon caught surprise by trump s travel ban pushes for
president has outlined. as far as you know general votel s statements did not violate any positions of the united states, did they? you seem to be giving a great deal of let me ask you about general votel. i have great belief in his truthfulness. you do not believe any of the statements he s made including those that i read violate any official position of the united states, do you? senator, if you would, that s best approached with general votel. i m three orders removed. if i could introduce for the record, there is an interesting article in buzzfeed news just recently today that just listed a whole series of headlines. i think these are instructive, mr. chair. trump s announcement that he will end u.s. korea drills catches pentagon off guard. pentagon is surprised by pledge to stop military exercises. trump signals withdraw of troops from syria, surprising pentagon and state department. pentagon caught by surprise by