President Trump will not attend the Summit of the Americas to remain in Washington to oversee the response to a chemical weapons attack that killed dozens…
President Trump will not attend the Summit of the Americas to remain in Washington to oversee the response t o a chemical weapons attack that killed dozens of women and children in Syria, the White House said on Tuesday.
” President Trump will not attend the 8th Summit of the Americas in Lima, Peru or travel to Bogota, Colombia as originally scheduled,” White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement. “ At the President’s request, the Vice President will travel in his stead. The President will remain in the United States to oversee the American response to Syria and to monitor developments around the world.”
At a White House meeting on Monday, Trump said he would decide on a response to the gassing within 48 hours, saying “We cannot allow atrocities like that.”
He said US military leaders are investigating who’s behind the attack Saturday in Douma, a suburb of the capital of Damascus, but didn’t doubt that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad ordered it.
Trump was expected to arrive in Peru on Friday and then head to Colombia.
