{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.coons.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/video-sen-coons-trumps-syria-decision-a-great-big-christmas-gift-to-the-ayatollah-khamenei-to-vladimir-putin-and-bashar-al-assad", "[VIDEO] Sen. Coons: Trump\u2019s Syria decision \u201ca great big Christmas gift to the Ayatollah Khamenei, to Vladimir Putin, and Bashar al-Assad\u201d", "2018-12-20", "2018", "2018-12", "Democrat", "House", "DE", "Christopher Coons", "C001088", "www.coons.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "12.20.18\n\t\t\t [VIDEO] Sen. Coons: Trump's Syria decision a great big Christmas gift to the Ayatollah Khamenei, to Vladimir Putin, and Bashar al-Assad \n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t \n\t\n\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n        \n\t\t\t\t Sen. Coons: I couldn't disagree more with this decision. It's a terrible decision, both in how the president made it and in what he's decided to do. I only pray that our president will reconsider.\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t WASHINGTON  U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, this morning joined MSNBC's Morning Joe.\r\nFor us to unilaterally withdrawand abandon the Kurds to analmost certain advance by eitherthe Turks or the Iranians orboth, I think is just, whywould anyone stand alongside usand fight in such an importantconflict as our work againstISIS in the future if this is how we treat our partners, the Kurdsin this important fight againstISIS?So, you'll see a lot of efforttoday to try to persuade thepresident to reverse thisdecision,said Senator Coons.\r\nVideo and transcript availablehere.\r\nExcerpts from the transcript are below:\r\nSen. Coons on Syria:That's right.I couldn't disagree more withthis decision.It's a terrible decision, bothin how the president made it andin what he's decided to do.I only pray that our presidentwill reconsider, because hemanaged to unite all of usin the Senate in the last twodays. First, we had a very positive daywhere we all came together andpassed a big bold bipartisancriminal justice reform bill andmanaged to avoid a governmentshutdown, so the mood was prettypositive yesterday.And then just like a shot ofelectricity, the message thatthe president in a tweetannounced he was going towithdraw from Syria and hand agreat big Christmas gift to theAyatollah Khamenei, to Vladimir Putin, and Bashar al-Assad of Syria I think unified our Senatein concern, even outrage.You've played earlier in thissegment the statement from awide range of senators.I'll add my voice to them.I pray our president reversesthis terrible decision thatsimply cedes the ground ofSyria to ISIS, to Iran, and to Russia.Just a terrible decision.\r\nMore on Syria:I don't.My strong impression from othersenators I spoke with last nightwas that none of the relevantsenior senators had beenconsulted or informed beforethis decision was announced.I think it was announced onTwitter.It's possible because I haven'tspoken to every senator thatthere were some that heconsulted with but the idea thatit was Senator Rand Paul andSenator Mike Lee who are cheering thisand other 90 senators I expectwill denounce it, question itswisdom and the process and saythis was a grave mistake tellsyou something about the ways inwhich President Trump who ran asan unconventional candidate, ouronly president with nomilitary or elected experience before getting intooffice has made a decision here that is uniformly condemned bythe United States Senate.It shows a lack of consultation.I'm more concerned if he madethis decision in directopposition to advice from thesenior levels of our armedforces and our intelligencecommunity who I strongly suspectadvised him urgently againstmaking this brazen and ill-considered move. More on Syria:Joe, you'll hear today verystrong, very unified messages tothe president begging him toreconsider this decision beforehe heads off for his two-weekgolf vacation at Mar-a-Lago.He put out a video as you referenced earlier citingthose who fought and sacrificed and died in the conflict against ISIS and my hunch is you'll hearvoice from our armed forces, fromthe Congress, and from thegeneral public saying that thewar against ISIS is not won, andthat we should best honor thesacrifice and service of our menand women at arms by not cedingthis ground, not paving ahighway of control of Syria for Iran andbringing this threat right to the threshold of our vital ally Israel.We have the world's mostpowerful military for a reason.The fight against ISIS was animportant and noble andsignificant effort where wepulled in dozens of other countries.The United States did manage tobring some measure of stabilityto a part of a country thatwas destroyed by ISIS, but thatfight is not over and not won.For us to unilaterally withdrawand abandon the Kurds to analmost certain advance by eitherthe Turks or the Iranians orboth, I think is just, whywould anyone stand alongside usand fight in such an importantconflict as our work againstISIS in the future if this is how we treat our partners, the Kurdsin this important fight againstISIS?So, you'll see a lot of efforttoday to try to persuade thepresident to reverse thisdecision.\r\n###\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t Press Contact \n\t\t\t\tSean Coit at 202-224-5042 orSean_Coit@coons.senate.gov\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t  \n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t \n\t\t\n\t\t\tPrint\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tEmail\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tTweet\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t \n\t\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n    \n\t\n\t\n    \n    \n    \n    \t\n    \t\n\t    \t  \n\t\t    \n\t\t    \n\t\t    \tPrevious Article", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.coons.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/video-sen-coons-trumps-syria-decision-a-great-big-christmas-gift-to-the-ayatollah-khamenei-to-vladimir-putin-and-bashar-al-assad"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.1117649264633656, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}