The top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee says that the Trump administration has no intention of launching a second missile strike against Syria at this time.
In a Thursday evening appearance on MSNBC, Rep. Adam Schiff said he received a call from Dan Coats, the director of national intelligence, about the attack not long after it began.
“It was I think close to 70 missiles fired from ship at a single target,” Schiff said, adding that the target was an airfield that was believed to have been the site where a chemical weapons attack tied to the Assad regime originated earlier this week.
“It is, I think, at the present not the intention to have more than this single strike, but, of course, the administration is reserving their options depending on whether the regime responds against our troops or takes any other action against the U.S. targets or allies,” Schiff continued. “But it was our best intelligence per the director that this is where the attack, the chemical weapons attack originated from and that was the response.”
While the lawmaker said he has no reservations about saying Bashar Assad and his government needs to go, he “strongly” cautioned President Trump against turning this strike into a military effort to change the regime without congressional approval.
