he s pled the fifth is like a gift from heaven. you have ronnie jackson, ashley parker jump in here. the back story on ronnie jackson and the exit strategy just before 8:00 this morning east coast time when the president was about to go on with fox and friends. we get this statement finally withdrawing. it was anticipated for many hours. there wasn t a real exit strategy. you had the president first in that press conference with french president macron undermining ronnie jackson saying about the man that he nominated to go through this process. if i were him, i wouldn t do it.
with thanks to our friends at the 11th hour who put that together. g good day i m andrea mitchell. ronnie jackson add mant he will become secretary of affairs. john tester saying that 20 military staffers have now come forward to complain about the president s position. alleging a toxic work environment, drinking on duty, improperly prescribing drugs to staff under president trump and obama. jerry moran tells reporters dr. jackson is denying allegations of a hostile workplace or drinking on the job. despite a broods hiad hint from president giving jackson an exit strategy, the white house is still calling his record impeccable. i don t want to put man through a process like this. it s too ugly and too disgusting, so, we ll see what
but domestically the big headline is what he said with ronny jackson. he told dr. jackson if i were you, i wouldn t stay in this. why do you need republicunning g agency with this bunch of politicians, their disgusting behavior. that was a big exit strategy for this nomination that appears to be doomed. it s not because of democratic obstruction, it s a bipartisy i approach coming out of the senate today postponing this hearing. chris dickey, i ll get to you but i know andy card has to catch a flight. andy card, is that how you read the message there in the room, president trump going on and on about how fantastic of a guy admiral jackson is, doctor to president obama before president trump, but in the end trump saying i don t think personally he should do it. do we have that let s listen actually. this is the president talking about his nominee to run the department of veterans affairs.
possibly emboldened by this talk of an exit strategy? no, i don t think donald trump s remarks about withdrawing forces from syria, withdrawing american forces from syria emboldened bashar al assad. look, assad has been using chemical weapons regularly in syria dating back to at least 2013. this wasn t the first or second or third time he s used them. he was using them long before donald trump ever talked about bringing american forces out of syria. so in this case, i have to say i think that analysis is off the mark. i think there is one really important point to be made about this, andrea, which is that if the united states wants to take this particular piece of the syrian problem, deterring chemical weapons, it needs to be prepared not for one big air raid, not for two big air raids.
about the exit ramp from american involvement in syria, talking about our eagerness to get out, opens the door to this kind of activity. president trump has learned, as barack obama learned, withdrawing from syria, withdrawing from commitments in the middle east is not so easy. others immediately take advantage in brutal ways and trump now confronts this reality. and i think if he s smart, he will understand he needs to stay in these eastern areas of syria that we control with our allies, the syrian kurds for longer than he may have thought. ambassador ford, this is the same president who criticized barack obama for signaling his exit strategy from iraq and afghanistan, particularly iraq. so has he learned that lesson? and do you agree with john mccain and others, as david was just saying, that assad was