Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer on Thursday said the “greatest insult” from a testy meeting at the White House on Wednesday was the lack of a clear policy from President Trump on how to contain the Islamic State terrorist group, or ISIS.
“The greatest insult that occurred in that room was simply the lack of policy on how to contain ISIS,” the New York Democrat said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” “There’s a real danger to the American people and a serious action has occurred.”
“We asked him repeatedly, what is the policy here, and he didn’t have one,” Mr. Schumer said.
“That’s the greatest insult to the American people, not the names that the president called people, but that he has no plan to deal with what could be a huge problem not just in Syria but here in America, because ISIS can hurt us,” he said.
The House on Wednesday voted to rebuke Mr. Trump’s decision to remove troops from Northern Syria, and Mr. Schumer said he hoped Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell would support the Senate version of the resolution.
Mr. Schumer also confirmed that the president called former Secretary of Defense James N. Mattis “the world’s most overrated general.”
“He bragged that he was much better at this than Mattis,” he said. “And Mattis is one of the most respected people here in Washington again by all parties.”
Mr. Schumer, along with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer, ended up leaving the meeting. Mr. Schumer said Mr. Trump called Mrs. Pelosi a “third-rate politician.”
Mrs. Pelosi on Wednesday said Mr. Trump had a “meltdown” and was “shaken up” by the margins of the House vote rebuking his Syria policy.
The president said there is something wrong with Mrs. Pelosi “upstairs” or she doesn’t like “our great Country.”
“She had a total meltdown in the White House today. It was very sad to watch. Pray for her, she is a very sick person!” the president said on Twitter.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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