President announces new Turkey sanctions, amid fury over fake video of him killing journalists shown at Mar-a-Lago
Move comes amid outcry over ‘abandoning’ of Kurdish forces
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Donald Trump has announced new sanctions on Turkey, amid a mounting outcry over its assault upon Kurdish fighters as it invaded northern Syria, and the escape from prisons of Isis fighters.
The president last week gave a green light for Ankara to launch its long-planned military operation into northeast Syria after he pulled out a small number of US special forces who had been working with the Kurds, whose soldiers had spearheaded the operation to destroy Isis.
On Monday, the president signed executive orders to sanction Turkey and suspend negotiations on a $100 billion trade deal. He said he will also boost tariffs on Turkish steel to 50 per cent.
In a statement in which he vowed to swiftly destroy the Turkish economy if it continued down “this dangerous and destructive path”, Mr Trump said US troops coming out of Syria will redeploy and remain in the region to monitor the situation.
Later in the day, the White House announced the president was sending Mike Pence to the Middle East, as tensions rose.
Mr Pence said Mr Trump spoke directly to Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
“President Trump communicated to him very clearly that the United States of America wants Turkey to stop the invasion, implement an immediate ceasefire and to begin to negotiate with Kurdish forces in Syria to bring an end to the violence,” he said.
Mr Trump’s decision to abandon the Kurdish-led Syrian Defence Force was criticised at home and abroad as opening the door to a resurgence of Isis, and for betraying a group that had previously worked with the US against Isis.
As Turkish forces and their Syrian Arab proxies advanced, forcing the Kurds to reduce the number of fighters guarding several prisons containing Isis prisoners, a number of detainees are able to flee.
The Kurds also announce they had deceived to strike a deal with the government of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad.
Meanwhile, the president’s have been condemned for screening a meme of the president killing journalists in a church and pistol-whipping the late senator John McCain at the American Priority Conference, hosted at his own Trump National Doral Miami golf resort in Florida.
The president has reportedly called the CEO of Fox News, Suzanne Scott, to complain over the “unfair” coverage his administration has received regarding the House impeachment inquiry. He recently complained the network is “much different than it used to be in the good old days”.
On the Sunday morning talk show circuit, US defence secretary Mark Esper admitted that Turkey “appears to be” committing war crimes against America’s Kurdish allies in the Syrian Democratic Forces, as a retired Marine general says Mr Trump has “blood on his hands” over the crisis unfolding on the northern Syria border.
To see how this story played out please read below
My latest story on Matt Gaetz getting ejected from a closed-door impeachment hearing earlier today.
Mr Gaetz argued that, because the House judiciary committee, of which he is a member, has previously led impeachment enquiries, he should have been allowed in the room.
“It’s not like I’m on agriculture,” Mr Gaetz said. “What are the Democrats so afraid of?”
Of course, that's not how any of this works.
Donald Trump has announced he will issue sanctions against Turkey “and any persons contributing to Turkey’s destabilising actions in northeast Syria”.
The president also said he was stopping a $100bn (£79.7bn) trade deal with Turkey that was being led by the Department of Commerce.
This video appears to show one of the Ukrainian businessman tied to Rudy Giuliani who was arrested last week at an election victory party for Ron DeSantis, the Florida governor and a close ally to Donald Trump.
Here's Clark Mindock with the latest reporting on Donald Trump's sanctions announcement surrounding Turkey -
House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff has left the closed-door meeting with Donald Trump's former top aide to Russia, Fiona Hill. He declined to speak with reporters as he pulled away in a vehicle -
Hello there. This is Andrew Buncombe in Seattle, picking up our political coverage. I just got back to Seattle from Minneapolis, where I attended the president's rally and chatted to supporters.
According to NBC News, Mr Trump's defence secretary, Mark Esper, just told reporters that Turkey's invasion of northern Syria led to the “release of many dangerous Isis detainees"
This is something he sought to blame on Turkey alone, rather than the US's decision to green light the operation, saying it's action were "irresponsible"
Meanwhile, Steven Mnuchin, the treasury secretary has revealed the details of new sanctions on Turkey, a response to the military operation, which the US tacitly approved. All pretty chaotic
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