GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger slams Trump's 'shortsighted' decision to withdraw troops from Syria

WASHINGTON – In a tweet and in television interviews Monday evening, Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., slammed President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw American military forces from northeastern Syria.

On Sunday evening, the Trump administration said that Turkey would begin a military operation in the region and that American forces would not be involved. Critics on both sides of the aisle said Trump was abandoning America's Kurdish allies and giving a foreign policy victory to America's adversaries.

Monday morning, Trump defended his decision and said he was trying to get the U.S. out of "endless wars."

In a tweet, Kinzinger accused Trump of using Sen. Rand Paul's "'endless wars' talking points" to justify the withdrawal and giving "Russia & Iran exactly what they want."

"This is a shortsighted decision with very real and long-lasting implications," Kinzinger said in a statement released Monday.

Paul had tweeted in support shortly after Trump had announced his decision, writing that he stood with Trump as "he once again fulfills his promises to stop our endless wars and have a true America First foreign policy."

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On Fox News' "The Story with Martha MacCallum," if Americans believe that for whatever reason terrorism has decided that they're done fighting, then that's fine, but this is not a U.S. endless war. This is an endless war that the terrorists have decided to do against us."

"If we can, if we can keep that back with three or four hundred troops, we ought to do that," he added.

Kinzinger also gave an interview on CNN's Prime Time with Chris Cuomo, where criticized Trump's contacts with the Ukrainian government and Trump's request to China to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden.

"Look, I think that there’s a lot that the Democrats are going to find out in this inquest they’re doing, but if he held the aid contingent upon that, that’s one thing. I think that it’s just wrong for a president to talk to a foreign leader about anything regarding our domestic politics.," he told CNN's Chris Cuomo.

Kinzinger added, though, that he did not support the impeachment of the president.

Trump continued to defend his decision in a Tuesday morning series of tweets.

"We may be in the process of leaving Syria, but in no way have we Abandoned the Kurds, who are special people and wonderful fighters," Trump said.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Kinzinger: Trump giving US adversaries a victory with Syria decision