Graham after meeting with Trump: I feel a lot better about Syria now

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said Sunday that he feels better about the U.S. strategy in Syria after meeting with President Trump at the White House for a private lunch.

“We talked about Syria and he told me some things I didn’t know that made me feel a lot better about where we’re headed in Syria,” Graham told reporters.

“He promised to destroy ISIS [the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria]. He’s going to keep that promise,” Graham continued. “We’re not there yet, but as I said today we’re inside the 10-yard line, and the president understands the need to finish the job.”

Sen. Lindsey Graham, who criticized President Trump’s withdrawal of troops from the Middle East, says Trump today told him “some things I didn’t know that make me feel a lot better about where we’re headed in Syria” pic.twitter.com/HBbvzirDfO

— CBS News (@CBSNews) December 30, 2018

{mosads}Graham, who has emerged as one of the president’s closest allies on Capitol Hill but criticized him on the decision to withdraw troops, said earlier in the day he hoped to use the lunch to urge Trump to reconsider his decision to withdraw U.S. forces from Syria.

Graham has slammed the decision, warning that ISIS is not fully defeated and that U.S. adversaries like Russia would benefit from the choice.

He and many other Republican and Democratic lawmakers have warned that pulling out of Syria threatens to destabilize the region.

Trump has defended his decision. He initially claimed ISIS had been defeated, and later argued that it’s not the U.S.’s role to police the region.

Some lawmakers have praised the move, saying that the U.S. lacked a sound strategy in Syria to begin with.