Republican Sen. Rand Paul said Sunday he’s “very proud” of President Donald Trump for his decision last week to withdraw US troops from Syria.
“I’m very proud of the President. This is exactly what he promised. And I think the people agree with him, actually,” Paul, who represents Kentucky, told CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union.”
“I think people believe that we’ve been at war too long and in too many places. And that we do need to turn attention to problems we have at home here,” he said, adding that attention needs to be paid to the country’s infrastructure.
“We have a lot of problems in our country and I think people are tired of spending. You know, we spent several trillion dollars on these wars everywhere and I think the President promised that he’d be different,” Paul said.
Shortly after Trump made his announcement to withdraw troops from Syria, Paul voiced his support on Twitter, writing that he’s “happy to see a President who can declare victory and bring our troops out of a war.”
“It’s been a long time since that has happened,” he tweeted.
The senator joined his father, former Rep. Ron Paul, in his praise of the President’s decision.
“I don’t see it as a political event as much as he had good defense. He campaigned on it. He said it was a bad war. He wanted to get out,” Ron Paul said Saturday on CNN’s “Smerconish.”
French President Emmanuel Macron also weighed in on Trump’s decision to pull troops out of Syria, saying Sunday, “Being allies means fighting shoulder to shoulder, and so an ally must be reliable and coordinate with other allies.”
“Concerning our American allies, I deeply regret the decision taken in Syria,” Macron said during a visit to N’Djamena, Chad.
Macron also praised outgoing Defense Secretary James Mattis, who resigned last week over Trump’s decision.
“I want to pay tribute to Gen. Mattis … for a year and I half I have observed that Gen. Mattis was a reliable representative. He always reminded us how important it was to be allies,” Macron said.
CNN’s Adrienne Vogt and Antoine Crouin contributed to this report.