Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham suggested Sunday President Donald Trump now better understands the stakes in Syria and has agreed to reevaluate, for now, his plans to immediately withdraw all US troops from the country.
Still, Graham said, Trump remains committed to bringing American servicemen and women home, even as he continues to weigh the greater regional dynamics. He told CNN later in the day the President had not reversed his Syria orders.
"After discussions with the President and (Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph) Dunford, I never felt better about where we are headed. I think we're slowing things down in a smart way," the South Carolina Republican told reporters at the White House, where he'd just sat for lunch with the President. "But the goal has always been the same. To be able to leave Syria and make sure ISIS never comes back."
He added later: "I think we're in a pause situation where we are reevaluating what's the best way to achieve the President's objective of having people pay more and do more."
Speaking to CNN's Dana Bash after his appearance in the White House driveway, Graham said he didn't mean to suggest that Trump is pausing troop withdrawal altogether.
"He has not reversed his decision" to withdraw troops from Syria, Graham said. "The pause is to assess the effects of the conditions on the ground."
The White House did not clarify whether Trump had come to a new determination about the Syria withdrawal plans, which drew widespread criticism when they were first announced earlier this month. National security adviser John Bolton is scheduled to travel to Israel and Turkey early in the new year to discuss the decision with partners in the region.
Graham said that during the President's surprise trip to Iraq last week, commanders on the ground informed Trump that ISIS is not "completely destroyed," which he said was an "eye-opening" experience for the commander in chief.
"The President assured me he is going to make sure he gets the job done, and I assured him that nobody has done more to defeat ISIS than he has. We are inside the 10-yard line," Graham told reporters at the White House.