DUBAI: US President Donald Trump said he launched the strike against Syria last week, and notified the Chinese president who was on a state visit, over “the most beautiful piece of chocolate cake that you’ve ever seen.”
Trump last week ordered that an airbase in Syria be targeted with 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles after a suspected chemical weapons attack in the country killed at least 87 people.
Trump, who said Syrian President Bashar Al Assad was to blame for the suspected chemical weapons attack, told Fox News Business host Maria Bartiromo the details of the moment he knew the missiles were on their way in a segment that aired Wednesday.
“I was sitting at the table. We had finished dinner. We’re now having dessert. And we had the most beautiful piece of chocolate cake that you’ve ever seen, and President Xi (Jinping ) was enjoying it,” Trump recalled.
.@POTUS tells @MariaBartiromo he told President Xi about the Missile strikes over "the most beautiful piece of chocolate cake." pic.twitter.com/vPLu7ZhxbR
— FOX Business (@FoxBusiness) April 12, 2017
“And I was given the message from the generals that the ships are locked and loaded, what do you do? And we made a determination to do it, so the missiles were on the way. And I said, ‘Mr. President, let me explain something to you.’
“So what happens is, I said, ‘We’ve just launched 59 missiles heading to Iraq and I wanted you to know this.’ And he was eating his cake. And he was silent,” Trump added.
The Fox News host then reminded the US president that the strikes were launched against Syria, not Iraq.
“Yes. Heading toward Syria,” Trump replied. “And I want you to know that, because I didn’t want him to go home. We were almost finished. It was a full day in Palm Beach. We’re almost finished, and I — what does he do, finish his dessert and go home and then they say, ‘You know, the guy you just had dinner with just attacked a country?’”
Bartiromo then asked how the Chinese leader reacted to the news.
“So he paused for 10 seconds and then he asked the interpreter to please say it again. I didn’t think that was a good sign… And he said to me, ‘Anybody that uses gases ... but anybody that was so brutal and uses gases to do that young children and babies, it’s OK.’”
“He was OK with it. He was OK,” Trump said.
