Trump Adamant: ‘We’re Not Going into Syria’

President Donald Trump insisted that the U.S. is “not going into Syria” despite “some questions” about the differing views expressed by U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson during an interview that aired Wednesday on Fox Business Network’s “Mornings with Maria.”

The administration has taken fire for not outlining a specific policy vision for Syria, and clarity on the question of regime change, since Trump ordered a missile strike last week in retaliation for a chemical attack that killed more than 80 Syrian civilians.

“And frankly, Putin is backing a person that’s truly an evil person. And I think it’s very bad for Russia. I think it’s very bad for mankind. It’s very bad for this world.”

“Okay, just so you understand, we’re not going into Syria, because, you know, there were some questions,” Trump told host Maria Bartiromo. “Nikki Haley is doing a great job. Rex is doing a fantastic job, our secretary of State. General McMaster, fantastic.”

“But if you add it all up and if they take every little word, they’ll say oh, they’re different,” Trump added. “Just so you understand, we’re not going into Syria.”

The president did insist, however, that the U.S. will not tolerate Syria’s use of chemical weapons against its own citizens.

“But when I see people using horrible, horrible chemical weapons, which they agreed not to use under the Obama administration, but they violated it,” Trump said. “What I did should have been done by the Obama administration a long time before I did it and you would have had a much better — I think Syria would be a lot better off right now than it has been.”

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“I will tell you that when I looked at the pictures on any show or any newspaper, but especially when you see them on television … and you see these beautiful kids that are dead in their fathers’ arms, or you see kids gasping for life and you know they’re — it’s over. It’s over for them. They’re hosing them down, hundreds of them,” Trump added. “When you see that, I immediately called General Mattis.”

“I said, what can we do?” Trump continued. “And they came back with a number of different alternatives. And we hit them very hard. Now, are we going to get involved with Syria? No … But when they drop barrel bombs and bombs of any kind right on top of a civilian population, that’s the worst thing — I’ve never seen anything like it.”

Trump reiterated a warning to Syria and Assad, insisting again that the U.S. would not tolerate the use of gas and chemical weapons.

The president also directed a stern rebuke at Russian President Vladimir Putin and his government, which backs Assad’s regime. As Tillerson concludes his visit in Russia this week, Trump said he wants his secretary of state to deliver a clear message.

“Number one, you should have peace in Syria. It’s enough,” Trump said. “And frankly, Putin is backing a person that’s truly an evil person. And I think it’s very bad for Russia. I think it’s very bad for mankind. It’s very bad for this world.”

“And I really think that there’s going to be a lot of pressure on Russia to make sure that peace happens, because, frankly, if Russia didn’t go in and back this animal, you wouldn’t have a problem right now,” Trump insisted. “And then Russia came in and saved him. And then Obama made one of the worst deals in history with the Iran deal. So you really have Iran and you have Russia and you have Assad.”

In his interview with Bartiromo, Trump also touched on his accomplishments during his first 100 days thus far.

“We’ve done an amazing job on regulations … We freed up this country so much, the miners and energy and the banking system is now coming, too, with Dodd-Frank, which is a disaster,” Trump said. “We have done so much for so many people. I don’t think that there is a presidential period of time in the first 100 days where anyone has done nearly what we’ve been able to do.”

“And on top of it, we just had — during the first 100 days, a Supreme Court justice approved, not just nominated, but approved through a very, very hostile environment,” Trump said, referring to Justice Neil Gorsuch and the Senate Democrats’ attempted filibuster against his confirmation.

Trump lamented the intense discord between the Republicans and the Democrats, noting that they used to be “best friends” and “they’d fight a little bit during the day” before eating meals amicably together.

“Today, you don’t see that. The level of hatred is incredible. And I’m not just saying in the last 90 days, I’m saying this has been for the last few years. It’s incredibly divisive,” Trump said.

And this discord has gotten in the way of his “America first” agenda, the president said.

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“I always assume no Democrat votes. Now, the good thing is we have the House. We have the Senate. And we have the White House. So we’re all set,” Trump said, before noting that even the Republican Party has its own “factions.”

“You have the conservative Republicans. You have the moderate Republicans and you have to get them together,” Trump said, noting that his first health care proposal failed to unite all of the Republicans. “But we need close to 100 percent. That’s a pretty hard thing to get.”

The president promised that healthcare reform was still coming, despite the embarrassing failure in the House. Tax reform and infrastructure will follow on its heels, Trump said.

“We are going to have tax reform at some point very soon. I think we’re doing very well on health care. It’s been very much misreported that we failed with health care. We haven’t failed, we’re negotiating and we continue to negotiate and we will save perhaps $900 billion,” Trump said.

“So we’re going to have a phenomenal tax reform. But I have to do health care first,” Trump insisted. “I want to do it first to really do it right.”