>> and erdogan, once he got that green light decided to do something he's been wanting to do for some time which is go after the kurds in northeastern syria. i will tell you talking to people inside the white house over the last couple of weeks, they are very sensitive to this notion that the president gave erdogan a green light. it is something that has gotten under their skin. and the vice president just a couple of days ago was standing in front of reporters outside the west wing insisting the president did not give erdogan a green light when clearly that's what happened. >> it's hard to understand their reasoning. because if the president didn't give erdogan a green light, why did erdogan go in? in other words, if we hadn't pulled back the u.s. troops, that wouldn't have been possible. he hadn't gone in before that. >> that's right. and this has happened before with this administration. they're trying to pull the wool over your eyes i think to some extent here. remember what the white house said in the initial statement