As secretaryesper stated, we havent defeated isis. Have you found that tweet . Did you find that tweet to be helpful . Im not sure which tweet youre talking about. Saying that the president made a decision on that between the secretary and i is not true. He tweeted out that we were going to remove troops from syria. You were both aware that he was going to make that tweet . The sequencing, im not exactly clear which tweet youre talking about. There are most recent tweet when he said he was going to remove the tweets from syria. Not a month ago when he said he was going to that. Not when secretary mattis resigned. Im talking about the one after that. When we pulled troops out . When we pulled troops out. I believe that tweet happened after we talked. Im in the sure. I can go back and check. My point is this. There was coordination and there was discussion between senior advisors and the president prior to him making a decision. So the senior advisors know but none of our allies, mr. Crow was talking about his discussion with allies right before that week, had no idea that was coming. Many people in the pentagon had no idea that was coming. But you all discussed it and decided to do it . The deliberations were done by members to have national squounl the president of the United States. Did you recommend . I recommended that we pulled out 28 special forces soldiers in the face of 15,000 turks that were going to invade. The gentleman yield for one quick second. In december, you were doing n a different job at the time. A year ago . Talking about october . This past october . Im going a different place. It is a yes or no question. In december, when you were the secretary of the army and the army chief of staff. To your knowledge, did anyone in pentagon before the president sent out hi tweet saying we were going to pull completely out of afghanistan, did anyone know to your knowledge . To your knowledge as the secretary of the army and to your knowledge, did anyone in pentagon know that announcement was coming . I dont know. Im not trying to it is not a yes or no it is to your knowledge. As a Service Secretary how would you know . As a Service Secretary no. The Service Secretaries do not have an operational role. I just asked a very narrow question. Youre the secretary of the army and the chairman of of the armed a year ago i dont know if anyone october. I know about that. The earlier decision is the really important one here. In my opinion. Im sorry to interrupt, ms. Sheril. Please go ahead. Im also confused because now so it is my understanding you were deliberating with some number of people and you suggested that the president pull out 28 troops . Let me review the meeting here. There were a variety of intelligence reports going back as far as early august of a considerable buildup of Turkish Forces and capabilities with the intent to invade Northern Syria and establish a buffer zone. Esidenterdogan president erdogan said he was going to do that. One of the first calls i made was to turkey. Said what cro ryou doing. They said we are going to do this and we cannot guarantee the safety of the American Force s that arein the way. Those reports went to secretary of defense. Our nato ally said we are going to do this and were going to run right through american troops and we did not talk to our allies . We did talk to our allies. I dont know which allies youre referring to. Im talking about jordan. Im talking about allies throughout the region, israel. Our allies in the region that did not understand that we were going to pull troops ow it. Which allies are you talking about . Britain, france and israel. They were permanently called about the discussions and the situation personally called about the discussions and the situation. The key people. Im not going to speak for every member of the government. Speak for netanyahu. My point being, is there were deliberations and there were 15,000 turkish soldiers. Qued all of the intelligence to clearly indicate that orders were written and sent. They were going attack. There were 29 United States special forces and green berets. I am not going to allow 28 american soldiers to be killed and slaughtered just to call someones bluff. Beyond what these 28 troops are you refer to. Axis. G the axes we had 28 soldiers. Apologize. Again. Once the president made the announcement, six months before in a tweet that we were pulling out of syria, and this is absolutely what happened. When that tweet was made, everyone went oh, my god, what did he do . We have got to figure this out. It is my opinion, everything you ergogan , sir, is what did after the president without the president , without consulting the National Security council said were pulling out of syria. It is my opinion. That was moment that erdogan said ok. I can do this. Over the course of the next six, sevenings eight months he planned out and it led to the series of events you have described and i think it is accurate. We had over 3,000 troops in syria when the president made that announcement. By the time we got to all that you just described, that number was way down. It was way down. Im sorry to say this bluntly. It was way down not because it was in the National Security interests of the United States for it to be way down. It was way down because the president was trying to fulfill a Campaign Promise and he did not consult the pentagon before made that announcement and started us down this path. Im very sympathetic. Once we started down that path, you guys had to figure out how to make it work. You really worked hard at it. I know secretary dunn did as well. He desperately tried to find partners blocked fill in for us leaving. There were only 25 troops there. We couldnt possibly defend them. I agree. I completely agree. I do want to get to miss escobar if i could. I said i would. I know you guys are really pressed on time. Im really not trying to make a political point. We would really prefer you not to do this again. Ok . We have a process. Tweets have far more power than people realize on our policies. Try to calm it down. Thats what im trying to accomplish. It is a far more complicated story than that. It is true in december now a year ago the president issued his text, there was immediate there were immediate conversations. I know permanently between members of the house and the senate with the president and others at the white house related to that tweet. And without going into all of it ins and outs over weeks, is also true that there were other partners who did step up to assist in the work in syria and again, i have personal knowledge of a number of those conversations with partners. So the bottom line is the president made a tweet. There was a lot of work and conversation. We did not withdraw from syria. And we had partners working with us. I do not believe it was inevitable that what happened in october was going to come. Now i understand your points that once he said that it was going to happen one way or another. I can just say it is i believe it is a more complicated story with a number of people who had been emphasizing to the white house and to partners that we need to be there together because we had a lot at stake and there was some success with at and obviously president erdogan saw an opening, just to emphasize, i think the decision made by the secretary and the chairman to safeguard american lives when they made it was absolutely the right decision. I have qualms with the original tweet as you know. I dont think that was right. And thats part of reason i was involved in some of those conversations to ensure that we can continue to safeguard american interests in that region. Here is our Live Programming on thursday. The house meets at 9 00 a. M. Eastern to finish work on a bill allowing medicare to negotiate Prescription Drug prices. On cspan 2, the senate is working on judicial and executive branch nominations. Later in the day well join bbcs coverage of the british general election. On cspan 3 at 9 00 a. M. The House Judiciary Committee meets to consider amendments to the two articles of impeachment against president trump. Cspans washington journal live every day with news and policy issues that impact you. Coming up this morning, getting your reaction as the House Judiciary Committee considers articles of impeachment against president trump. Join the conversation all morning with your phone calls, emails, Facebook Comments and tweets. Watch cspans washington journal live at 7 00 eastern this morning. Join the discussion. Yesterday the chair of the Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell announced Interest Rates would remain unchanged. Ere are his remarks. Chair powell good afternoon everyone. To begin, i would like to say a few words about paul volcker, who as you know passed away earlier this week. Paul volcker served as Federal Reserve chair from 1979 to 1987. He accomplished many things during his long and distinguished career at the fed and elsewhere. Of course, he is best known for