Fact Check: Trump, Faulting Obama on Syria, Contradicts Himself -<br />By LINDA QIUAPRIL 4, 2017<br />In a statement condemning Tuesday’s chemical attack in Syria, President Trump faulted the administration of former President Barack Obama for not intervening more aggressively in<br />that country’s civil war — contradicting his own, earlier advice.<br />After the October 2016 vice-presidential debate, when Mike Pence, then governor<br />of Indiana, backed strikes against Mr. Assad, Mr. Trump stated, “I disagree.”<br />In the general election, Mr. Trump repeatedly criticized Hillary Clinton<br />and Mr. Obama for pushing for “immediate regime change in Syria.” Yet as even Mr. Trump noted in his statement on Tuesday, Mr. Obama did little to remove Mr. Assad.<br />Mr. Trump also disparaged Mrs. Clinton’s campaign stances on Syria — she had denounced Russia’s intervention in the war<br />and called for a no-fly zone — and Mr. Trump said numerous times that her policies would “lead to World War III.”<br />“I think going in was a terrible, terrible mistake.<br />In a May 2016 interview on MSNBC, Mr. Trump said the United States had “bigger problems than Assad.” He added, “I would have stayed out of Syria<br />and wouldn’t have fought so much for Assad, against Assad.”<br />So emphatic was Mr. Trump’s stance on Syria that he disavowed the stance of his own running mate.
