Trump Meets Syrian President, Calls Him an ‘Attractive Guy’

This morning, President Trump did something that no U.S. president has done in 25 years: meet the president of Syria.

Trump’s meeting with Ahmed al-Sharaa is even more extraordinary than an American president meeting with some repugnant branch of the Assad family. Until late December, the U.S. government was willing to pay $10 million for information about al-Sharaa’s location, because he was on the “specially designated global terrorist” list. Al-Sharaa, who used to be known by the nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, ran Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which the U.S. government characterized as a terrorist group. HTS overthrew the old regime of Bashar al-Assad.

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Jim Geraghty

Jim Geraghty is the senior political correspondent of National Review.

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This morning, President Trump did something that no U.S. president has done in 25 years: meet the president of Syria.

Trump’s meeting with Ahmed al-Sharaa is even more extraordinary than an American president meeting with some repugnant branch of the Assad family. Until late December, the U.S. government was willing to pay $10 million for information about al-Sharaa’s location, because he was on the “specially designated global terrorist” list. Al-Sharaa, who used to be known by the nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, ran Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which the U.S. government characterized as a terrorist group. HTS overthrew the old regime of Bashar al-Assad.