White House: Top officials were ‘fully aware’ of Syria statement

The White House on Tuesday insisted all relevant agencies knew about a statement released Monday night by press secretary Sean Spicer warning Syria not to conduct a major chemical weapons attack.

“I can tell you that leadership from the State Department, [Defense Department], [Office of the Director of National Intelligence], the CIA as well as members of the administration within this building were part of that process from the very beginning and fully aware,” White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said during the daily press briefing. 

The White House said in a statement Monday night that the U.S. had identified potential preparations for a chemical strike by the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad, warning him against conducting another attack. 

{mosads}”As we have previously stated, the United States is in Syria to eliminate the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria,” Spicer said. “If, however, Mr. Assad conducts another mass murder attack using chemical weapons, he and his military will pay a heavy price.”

The statement reportedly took Pentagon and State Department officials by surprise. 

Sanders declined to “walk through the detailed process of a timeline” of how the statement was released, citing intelligence concerns.

She did acknowledge there was “a routine meeting that took place yesterday,” prior to the statement.

The goal of the statement was to “do what we can to protect life in all forms and to take steps to move the ball forward in defeating [the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria], defeating all efforts of terrorism,” she said.

The Pentagon, meanwhile, released a statement Tuesday in line with the White House that said the United States has seen “active preparations for chemical weapons use.” 

“We have observed activities at Shayrat Air Base that suggest possible intent by the Syrian regime to use chemical weapons again,” Pentagon spokesman Maj. Adrian Rankine-Galloway said in a statement. “These activities are similar to what we observed prior to the regime chemical weapons attack against Khan Sheikhoun in April.”  

“The continued brutality of the Assad regime and his use of chemical weapons presents a clear threat to regional stability and security, as well as the national security interests of the United States and our allies,” Rankine-Galloway adds. 

The Syrian military in April allegedly carried out a chemical weapons strike that left dozens of civilians dead, many of them children.

That attack prompted President Trump to launch a strike on Syria’s Shayrat airfield, where the chemical attack was believed to have originated from.

When asked if a pending Syrian chemical weapons strike was an acknowledgement that the U.S. airstrikes failed to dissuade Assad from future attacks, Sanders brushed off the query.

“I don’t know that it didn’t [work] based on what we know on this point,” she said.