President Trump does not think he needs new war-making authority from Congress regarding Syria, even as the U.S. mission there expands beyond the military campaign to wipe out ISIS, a senior administration official told reporters on Tuesday.
At a briefing organized by the White House, the official curtly dismissed whether the broader mandate for the roughly 2,000 U.S. troops in Syria meant that the administration needs a new Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF). “No,†said the official, who took questions on condition that he not be named.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson suggested last week that U.S. forces would stay in the strife-torn country for the foreseeable future, not only to finish off what remains of the Islamic State fighters, who established strongholds in Syria after the country descended into civil war, but also to help set the stage for President Bashar Assad’s departure and counter rising Iranian influence.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-wont-seek-new-authority-wider-syria-mission-despite-widening-focus-231108228.html
