Defense Secretary James Mattis wanted the Congress to sign off on military strikes on Syria before they were launched.
But President Donald Trump moved unilaterally anyway, partly because he wanted to be consistent with his own tweets on the matter, military and administration officials told the New York Times.
In one saber-rattling tweet, Trump had already warned a military response was on the way.
Defense Secretary Jim Mattis wanted the Congress to sign off on military strikes on Syria
Trump tweeted April 11, ‘Russia vows to shoot down any and all missiles fired at Syria. Get ready Russia, because they will be coming, nice and new and “smart!” You shouldn’t be partners with a Gas Killing Animal who kills his people and enjoys it!’
Russia is one of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s primary allies.
Mattis urged a congressional vote as some lawmakers argued in advance that any military strike without it would be illegal and not covered by the post-Sept. 11 authorization for the use of military force that preceded the war in Afghanistan.
The president got apparently conflicting advice from Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker, the chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and has not felt pressure from the Republican Congress for acting ahead of a specific authorization.
‘The president called me about it on Thursday morning. I told him I thought he had the authority as long as it’s a surgical strike to do what he was doing,’ Corker told DailyMail.com. ‘My guess is most people in our conference would agree with that.’
He said Trump did not mention Mattis’s posture, and added: ‘There’s a big difference between him feeling it was required and him feeling that it was the right thing to do.’
President Donald Trump speaks during his meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at Trump’s private Mar-a-Lago club, Tuesday, April 17, 2018, in Palm Beach, Fla.
Trump also was warned that a response deemed too aggressive could provoke a wider war with Russia.
‘I would say that striking Syria at this point would be illegal without Congressional authorization because Congress has the war declaring power. There’s no excuse,’ said House Judiciary ranking Democrat Rep. Jerold Nadler of New York, speaking on MSNBC.
White House Chief of Staff John Kelly and National Security Advisor John Bolton attend U.S. President Donald Trump’s a bilateral meeting with Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe
Former National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster was fired and vacated his post before the strikes
U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis arrives for a closed-door briefings on Syria for the U.S. Senate on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., April 17, 2018
PREPARED FOR ALL CONTINGENCIES: White House National Security Advisor, John Bolton, steps from Air Force One upon U.S. President Donald Trump’s arrival in West Palm Beach, Florida, U.S., April 16, 2018
Damascus skies erupt with surface to air missile fire as the U.S. launches an attack on Syria targeting different parts of the Syrian capital Damascus, Syria, early Saturday, April 14, 2018. Syria’s capital has been rocked by loud explosions that lit up the sky with heavy smoke as U.S. President Donald Trump announced airstrikes in retaliation for the country’s alleged use of chemical weapons
In the end, the U.S. launched about 100 munitions at three sites in Syria associated with chemical weapons, after what the U.S. says was a chemical weapons attacks on civilians.
The background to the strike – the second attack on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces of his presidency – comes as a new Politico/Morning Consult poll shows 58 per cent of Americans backed the strikes.
Just 23 percent of Americans opposed the strikes, with 19 per cent having no opinion.
Trump’s decision to cast aside McMaster’s advice came days after the departure of his national security advisor, Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, and immediately after the installation of his hawkish successor, former UN Ambassador John Bolton.
Mattis and chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr. briefed lawmakers in the Capitol on the strikes on Tuesday.