Trump admits he was 'all set' to assassinate Assad after calling reports of the plan 'fiction'

In Bob Woodward's previous book, Fear, the journalist describes a scene from 2017 in which President Trump pushed then-Secretary of Defense James Mattis to "kill" Syrian President Bashar al-Assad after he launched a chemical attack on civilians. Mattis, Woodward reported, opted for a more measured approach in the end.

Trump responded at the time that assassinating Assad "was never even contemplated, nor would it be contemplated," while generally describing the book as "fiction."

On Tuesday, Trump hopped on the phone with the Fox & Friends team for 47-minute chat and admitted he was indeed "all set" to assassinate Assad and "would have rather taken him out," but "Mattis didn't want to do it." The president then went on a tangent about Mattis, whom he often openly criticizes, before eventually telling host Brian Kilmeade that he doesn't regret not going through with the plan. "I could have lived either way with that," he said. Tim O'Donnell

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up