The McCain-Trump battle is back on. Following the 'fake news' stories about the recent Yemen raid, it seems Senator McCain has gone public with his views on the failed mission, disagreeing with The White House's view of the raid's successful acquisition of key intel. This has obviously upset President Trump…
Sen. McCain should not be talking about the success or failure of a mission to the media. Only emboldens the enemy! He's been losing so….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 9, 2017
…long he doesn't know how to win anymore, just look at the mess our country is in – bogged down in conflict all over the place. Our hero..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 9, 2017
..Ryan died on a winning mission ( according to General Mattis), not a "failure." Time for the U.S. to get smart and start winning again!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 9, 2017
The tweetstorm follows White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer comments yesterday that critics of the recent Yemen raid, including Senator John McCain, should apologize for not calling it a “success,” but the Arizona Republican immediately rejected the idea. As Bloomberg reports,
“I don’t need to listen to that,” said McCain, a decorated Navy pilot who was held prisoner in Vietnam, after watching a video of Spicer’s rebuke Wednesday on a reporter’s phone. “My record speaks for itself.”
It’s the latest dustup between the White House and McCain, 80, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, who has sparred with the Trump administration on assorted issues including Russia and trade policy. But Spicer’s remarks also suggested the administration is trying to portray criticism of its military decisions as a broader attack on the U.S. armed forces.
Spicer said on Wednesday that the raid was “absolutely a success. And I think anyone who would suggest it’s not a success does disservice to the life of Chief Ryan Owens. He fought knowing what was at stake in that mission. And anybody who would suggest otherwise, doesn’t fully appreciate how successful that mission was, what the information that they were able to retrieve was and how that will help prevent future terrorist attacks.”
McCain said in his Tuesday statement.
“While many of the objectives of the recent raid in Yemen were met, I would not describe any operation that results in the loss of American life as a success,”
“Going forward, I am confident that our military will act on lessons learned from this operation to strengthen our fight against our terrorist enemies.”
via http://ift.tt/2kvDuAx Tyler Durden