AP FACT CHECK: Trump and lawmakers on Syria, jobs, court
WASHINGTON (AP) — Before the U.S. attack on a Syrian air base, President Donald Trump accused his predecessor of doing nothing when Syria's government used chemical weapons against its population in 2013.
Trump is right that President Barack Obama issued what amounted to an empty threat of military action.
In a White House statement after what the Trump administration said was a bombing involving the nerve agent sarin in a rebel-held part of northern Syria: These heinous actions by the Bashar al-Assad regime are a consequence of the past administration's weakness and irresolution.
President Obama said in 2012 that he would establish a 'red line' against the use of chemical weapons, and then did nothing.
When evidence emerged in August 2013 of a large-scale chemical attack in the Damascus suburbs, more than 10 times deadlier than this past week's, Obama quickly signaled his intention to use military force.
Derek Chollet, Obama's assistant defense secretary for international security affairs, wrote in Politico last year that he was initially shocked when Obama decided to go to Congress, because "it was clear the president had all the domestic legal authority and international justification he needed to act."
[...] Obama turned to diplomacy when Russia offered him a way out.
SEN. MITCH McCONNELL, Senate majority leader, on why he opposed Obama's proposal for U.S. military action against Syria in 2013 but supports what Trump did: Secretary (of State John) Kerry, I guess in order to reassure the left-leaning members of his own party, said it would sort of be like a pinprick.
[...] what McConnell, R-Ky., said at the time was that Assad's use of chemical weapons on his own people did not threaten the U.S. "A vital national security risk is clearly not in play," he said then, responding to a far deadlier attack on civilians than the latest one.
McConnell told the Senate in September 2013 that Obama's planned action was detached from any strategy to end the Syrian civil war.
TRUMP, speaking to CEOs at the White House about the nation's unemployment rate: "We have 100 million people if you look" who want jobs and can't get them.
Trump's figure of 100 million people uncounted in the unemployment rate is made up largely of high-school and college students, retirees and stay-at-home parents who aren't looking for work.
The package mixed economic and social spending, helping states train displaced workers, for example, extending jobless benefits and assisting with low-income housing.
Trump praised Obama and the package's combination of tax cuts and spending programs when it passed in February 2009.
TRUMP, on signing executive action that revived the Keystone XL pipeline from Canada: I was signing the order and I said where'd they buy the steel? I didn't like the answer.
Last year Iraqi military forces, supported by the coalition, waged successful battles to oust IS from Fallujah, Ramadi, eastern Mosul and a number of smaller towns along the Tigris River.