Senator: Trump administration didn’t provide evidence ahead of Syria strike

Sen. Angus King (I-Maine), a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, on Sunday said the Trump administration did not provide any evidence to his panel that Syria had used chemical weapons before launching a missile strike over the weekend.

“I’m unaware that they presented definitive evidence of what the use of the chemical weapons was,” he said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

“We got updated briefings from over the weekend about the strike and they indicated that they had confidence that chemical weapons had been used but they didn’t supply the evidence,” he added.

The United States, France and Britain launched dozens of missiles against what the allies described as Syria’s chemical weapons network after Syrian President Bashar Assad was suspected of using chemical weapons against the town of Douma, a rebel-held enclave.

The Pentagon notified congressional leaders of the impending strike on Friday.

{mosads}King said on Sunday that there are going to be classified briefings with senior defense and intelligence officials on Capitol Hill this week.

“Certainly they believe that they have the evidence that these chemical weapons have been used,” he said.

King also said it is very difficult to stay how effective the strikes were.

“We did a strike a year ago for that same purpose and it was deemed a success but the chemical weapons have continued to be used,” he said.

The latest attack was broader than what was launched a year ago. Three military facilities were targeted compared to one of a year ago.