In this video, CNN’s Jake Tapper looks at President Donald Trump’s recent criticism of President Barack Obama’s response in 2013 to a chemical weapons attack in Syria.
In an April 5 press conference with Jordan’s King Abdullah, Trump was asked about another chemical bombing a day earlier in a rebel-held area of northern Syria that killed dozens of people. “I think the Obama administration had a great opportunity to solve this crisis a long time ago when he said the red line in the sand,” Trump said. “And when he didn’t cross that line after making the threat, I think that set us back a long ways, not only in Syria but in many other parts of the world because it was a blank threat.”
The next day, Trump ordered a military strike on a Syrian government airbase. The president said he acted “to prevent and deter the spread and use of deadly chemical weapons.”
Trump is free to criticize Obama’s handling of Syria and the “red-line” episode. But Trump ignores his own statements on the 2013 chemical weapons attack.
On Twitter, Trump advised Obama at the time to “forget Syria,” to “NOT attack Syria” and to “stay out of Syria.”
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