USA: 'Let them work it out' - Trump defends pulling troops from Syria

*BUG AT SOURCE*
W/S Presser with US President Donald Trump and Italian President Sergio Mattarella in Washington, D.C.
SOT, Journalist: "Even after all you have seen - ISIS prisoners freed, all the humanitarian disaster - you don't have any regret for giving Erdogan the green light to invade?"
Donald Trump, US President: "I didn't give him a green light. That's the same thing as you just, you know, when you make a statement like that, it's so deceptive. Just the opposite of a green light. First of all, we have virtually no soldiers there. They were mostly gone. Just a tiny little group and they would have been in harm's way. You have a massive army on the other side of the border. But more important, I didn't give them a green light. And if anybody saw the letter, which can be released very easily, if you'd like, I could certainly release it. But I wrote a letter right after that conversation, a very powerful letter. There was never given a green light. They've been wanting to do that for years. And frankly, they've been fighting for many, many years." *MULTIPLE SHOTS AT SOURCE*
W/S Journalists *CUTAWAY*
SOT, Journalist: "Lindsey Graham just said of your remarks that you made in the Oval Office that if you keep talking like that, quote, 'this will be a disaster worse than Obama's decision to leave Iraq'."
Donald Trump, US President: "No, Lindsey Graham would like to stay in the Middle East for the next thousand years with thousands of soldiers and fighting other people's wars. I want to get out of the Middle East. I think Lindsey should focus right now on judiciary, like the Democrats, the do nothing Democrats, as I call them, because they're doing nothing, they're getting nothing done." *MULTIPLE SHOTS AT SOURCE*
M/S Trump and Italian President Sergio Mattarella *CUTAWAY*
SOT, Donald Trump, US President: "The people of South Carolina don't want us to get into a war with Turkey, a NATO member, or with Syria. Let them fight their own wars. They've been fighting for a thousand years. Let them fight their own wars. The people of South Carolina want to see those troops come home. And I won an election based on that. And that's the way it is, whether it's good or bad. That's the way it is. And if you look at this country, I'd be willing to bet anything, political instinct, that that's what the country wants. I'm not going to get involved in a war between Turkey and Syria, especially when if you look at the Kurds and again, I say this with great respect, they're no angels. If you look at PKK, take a look at PKK. ISIS respects PKK. You know why? Because they're as tough or tougher than ISIS. You take a look at a lot of the things having to do. You have to say it. Nobody wants to say it. We're making the Kurds look like they're angels. We paid a lot of money to the Kurds, tremendous amounts of money. We've given them massive fortunes. And you know what? It's wonderful. They fought with us, but we paid a lot for them to fight with us. But just so you understand, we were the ones that captured ISIS. People let some go, they opened a couple of doors to make us look as bad as possible. We have a situation where Turkey is taking land from Syria. Syria is not happy about it. Let them work it out. We shouldn't be over there."
M/S Journalist asking question *CUTAWAY*
SOT, Donald Trump, US President: "We're bringing our soldiers back home. And we've done a great job. We were supposed to be in Syria for one month. That was 10 years ago. And we've been a police force. It's time to bring our soldiers back home. That's the way it is. We've had no soldiers injured or hurt. That's because I'm president and we're the boss. Just remember that. We have the most powerful military in the world by far."
M/S Journalist asking question
W/S Presser ends
SCRIPT
US President Donald Trump defended his decision to pull troops out of northern Syria during a press conference at the White House on Wednesday, a move which some have criticised as enabling the ongoing Turkish military operation in the region.
"I'm not going to get involved in a war between Turkey and Syria, especially when if you look at the Kurds and again, I say this with great respect, they're no angels. If you look at PKK, take a look at PKK. ISIS respects PKK. You know why? Because they're as tough or tougher than ISIS. You take a look at a lot of the things having to do. You have to say it. Nobody wants to say it. We're making the Kurds look like they're angels," he said.
"We have a situation where Turkey is taking land from Syria. Syria is not happy about it. Let them work it out. We shouldn't be over there," Trump added.
Turkey's military offensive dubbed 'Operation Peace Spring' began on October 9, days after the White House announced a withdrawal of US troops. Ankara says the aim of the offensive is to create a 'safe zone' cleared of Kurdish groups.