GOP/MIKE PENCE/SENATE/SYRIA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “GOP senators leveled blistering criticism at Vice President Mike Pence on Wednesday [12-19-18] for President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from Syria, with multiple Republican senators expressing outrage and frustration. Pence was dispatched to the Hill as the administration began absorbing a torrent of condemnation from hawkish Republicans, who blasted the White House announcement that the U.S. and its allies have defeated the Islamic State in Syria and that some of the 2,000 U.S. troops battling the terrorist group will begin coming home. But though the criticism was directed at the president in Wednesday’s party lunch, Pence still endured an earful as he tried to make a presentation to the startled GOP about U.S. policy in the Middle East. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) told Pence he was ‘personally offended’ to read about the decision in the news rather than hearing from the president or his aides. Graham has grown close to Trump and has generally praised him though he often criticized the president during the 2016 campaign.”
–David Brown, Gregory Hellman and Burgess Everett, “Republicans rip Trump’s surprise Syria withdrawal in meeting with Pence,” Politico, December 19, 2018 8:44 pm