Trump news: President hails disputed Syria 'ceasefire' as White House appears to confirm quid pro quo with Ukraine
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Your support makes all the difference.Donald Trump’s administration announced a ceasefire in northeastern Syria after paving the way for Turkey’s offence to occur in the first place, with the president celebrating the move as a “great day for civilisation”.
The announcement was followed up swiftly by comments from the Turkish government casting doubt on the news, and criticism from those who have suggested that the Trump administration is giving the Turkish government a win by forcing Kurds to leave the region or face an uncertain future.
The breaking news arrives as Mr Trump's ambassador to the EU, Gordon Sondland, a key figure of interest in the impeachment inquiry, is testifying on Capitol Hill behind closed doors, turning on the president in his opening statement by saying he was “disappointed” by the decision to involve Mr Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani in US dealings with Ukraine.
Meanwhile, the president swiftly faced ridicule following the release of a bizarre letter he had written to Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan imploring him not to attack the Kurdish fighters of the Syrian Democratic Forces, which appears to have been thrown away and ignored by the recipient.
The mockery follows his dismissal of the crisis in Syria as “not our problem” on Wednesday and his falling out with senior Democrats when they urged him to halt the withdrawal of US troops from the region.
Meanwhile, the United States mourns congressman Elijah Cummings, a leading figure in the Trump impeachment probe, who died overnight after suffering through medical concerns.
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"The president has agreed to withdraw the sanctions," Mike Pence says.
Mike Pence says the US commitment is to work with YPG members "to facilitate an orderly withdrawal over the next 120 hours. Let me say this: that has already literally begun."
"Turkey's willingness to pause and embrace a ceasefire of military operations" will "enable us to facilitate that withdrawal," Pence says.
"President Trump in his telephone call with President Erdogan ... was very clear that he wanted a ceasefire. He wanted to stop the violence," Mike Pence says.
Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo have concluded their press conference.
The White House’s trenchant declaration to House impeachment investigators last week was unequivocal: no more witnesses or documents for a “totally compromised kangaroo court”.
But just a week later, it has become clear that Donald Trump’s attempts to stonewall the Democrat-led inquiry that has imperilled his presidency and ensnared much of his inner circle are crumbling.
One by one, a parade of Trump administration career diplomats and senior officials has offered a cascade of revelations.
Those accounts have corroborated and expanded upon key aspects of the whistleblower complaint that spawned the impeachment inquiry into whether the president abused his power to enlist Ukraine to help him in the 2020 presidential election.
It appears there is no official word as of yet on whether or not on the result of a meeting between the Turkish president and Vice President Mike Pence:
Here's video from Mick Mulvaney's press conference in which he announced the White House would host the next G7 Summit at Donald Trump's private property, the Trump Doral in Florida.
Rather odd for an acting White House chief of staff to claim his administration does something like this "all the time" -
The president spoke to reporters about the ceasefire in Turkey after he touched down in Texas, describing it as an "amazing outcome regardless of how the press would like to damp it down some," according to a pool report.
The Turks "wanted to get this done for 10 years," he reportedly said, referring to the Turkish invasion of Syria. “When those guns start shooting they had to do something.”
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