Graham To Discuss Turkey Sanctions With Trump

October 14, 2019 4:23 am

WASHINGTON (AP) – Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham says he’ll meet with President Donald Trump on Monday and plans to discuss sanctions against Turkey over its invasion into Syria.  The South Carolina senator last week was critical of Trump’s announcement about removing U.S. troops from Syria. On Monday, Graham blamed Turkey for the turmoil in Syria, saying Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan “made the biggest mistake of his political life” and “brought this on himself.”  Graham tells Fox News Channel’s “Fox & Friends” there will be “crippling sanctions” from Congress that will “break” Turkey’s economy and “crush Erdogan until he stops the bloodshed.” Graham says Republicans, Democrats and the Trump administration will hit Erdogan “like a ton of bricks.”  Syrian Kurdish forces previously aligned with the U.S. say they’ve reached a deal with Syrian President Bashar Assad to help fend off Turkey’s invasion.  Graham says the alliance between the Kurds and Assad is “not good” for the United States. He says “Assad equals Iran” and “The last thing you want to do is to let Iran become more powerful in northeastern Syria.”