POLICY WONK

Eric Trump: Syria Strike Proves No Trump-Russia Ties

“If there was anything that Syria did, it was to validate the fact that there is no Russia tie.”

President Donald Trump’s son Eric said in an interview that his father’s decision to deploy airstrikes in Syria proves that there are no ties between Trump and the Russian government. “If there was anything that Syria did, it was to validate the fact that there was no Russia tie,” Eric Trump told Britain’s Telegraph. “If they disrespect us and if they cross us, fine. There will be no one harder—he has got more backbone than anybody. We’re no worse off that we were before. Maybe we’re finding that we can’t be.” The airstrikes were launched in direct response to the Assad regime’s use of chemical weapons last week in an attack that killed dozens of civilians, including young children. Trump said his father was “deeply affected” by the images coming out of Syria, and added that the “heartbroken and outraged” reactions of his sister Ivanka, a White House adviser, influenced the president to act. G7 foreign ministers, meeting in Italy on Monday and Tuesday, could not come to a consensus regarding additional economic sanctions on Russia.