In an appearance on MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports,” Senator Bob Corker on Friday called the U.S. missile strikes last night in Syria “very successful” in sending a message to the Bashar al-Assad regime against the use of chemical weapons. Senator Corker received a call Thursday evening from President Donald J. Trump in which the senator expressed support for the president’s decision to take military action after the deadly chemical weapons attack in Syria on Tuesday.
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Joseph Dunford briefed senators this afternoon on the operation.
“Very successful,” said Sen. Corker of the strikes. “I had a nice conversation with the president last night and told him I was really proud of our nation and I thanked him for taking the steps that he had taken. I felt like they were proportionate. They were the right steps. They weren’t over the top. They sent the right message and did an appropriate amount of destruction to the air base there in Syria.”
Sen. Corker described a carefully planned and executed military operation by the Trump administration that also included informing members of Congress in advance.
“They had a meeting yesterday at four o’clock and laid out the options,” said Sen. Corker. “The president made the decision. They went ahead. They carried it out professionally. I think it worked very, very well. I had a conversation yesterday evening with Secretary [of State] Tillerson also and multiple conversations with members of the [National Security Council] this morning …[T]his was exactly the kind of operation that I had hoped and was so disappointed didn't happen back in 2013…So, this is long overdue.”
Sen. Corker also said the United States should hold Assad accountable for war crimes and pressure Russia to end its support for his regime. Secretary Tillerson will travel to Moscow next week for talks with the Russian government.
“Assad is not a legitimate leader,” said Sen. Corker. “How we move beyond him, a big part of that is making sure he's held responsible for these crimes against humanity, these war crimes that have taken place. I don't think it's time to get into the details of that now, when you have a meeting getting ready to take place with Russia with Tillerson. I think those conversations will begin. The pressure ought to be on the Russians. If Putin wants to be truly a world leader and at the table of world leaders, they should immediately withdraw support for this war criminal if they have any degree of moral clarity. So, we'll see how they react to this in the very near future.”