White House press secretary Sean Spicer dodged when asked if President Trump Thursday personally ordered U.S. armed forces to drop one of the largest bombs in the country’s conventional weapons arsenal.
Spicer was asked if Trump ordered the Mother Of All Bombs — a 30-foot, 21,600-pound bomb — to be dropped in eastern Afghanistan on ISIS-Khorasan cave systems.
“I’m not going to get into the details right now,” Spicer said. “I’m not, as I mentioned I’ll let the Department of Defense take the lead on this one.”
The answer stands in stark contrast to Trump announcing to the nation that he ordered missile strikes against a Syrian air base last week. In the hours following that incident, Trump made brief remarks announcing the strike and said he had ordered it.
Spicer later ignored shouted questions from reporters seeking answers on whether Trump was aware the bomb was being dropped.
