Chris Van Hollen: “I start by thanking the Democratic leader for his leadership in raising those important issues before the Senate this…”

“I start by thanking the Democratic leader for his leadership in raising those important issues before the Senate this afternoon. I bring another issue before the Senate, that being my strong opposition to President Trump's shameful decision to invite Turkish President Erdogan to the White House tomorrow. It is a decision that has alarmed our allies and comforted our adversaries. It is a decision that undermines our values and our national security interests, and it is a decision that sends a terrible message to the world about how to get invited to President Trump's White House. In just the last 5 weeks, Turkish President Erdogan has taken the following actions: No. 1, he has launched an attack on a key ally of ours--in fact, the key ally--in our fight against ISIS terrorists, that being the Syrian Democratic Forces, led by the Syrian Kurds. No. 2, President Erdogan and his forces have killed over 200 in these attacks, displaced over 300,000, and enabled the release of over 100 ISIS prisoners. No. 3, Erdogan is using jihadi proxies that include a lot of al-Qaida elements, and they are committing gross human rights abuses, including what the Trump administration has acknowledged as being war crimes. There are also reports that the Turkish-backed proxy forces are using the chemical agent white phosphorus. No. 4, Erdogan and his forces have violated the so-called safe zone agreement that was reached by Vice President Pence in Ankara a few weeks ago.…”