The US investigative journalist enlightens his book’s readers about the Trump administration’s negotiation with Saudi Arabia regarding funding, $4 billion, for a CIA operation in Syria.
“General Kelly informed the president that his two top foreign policy advisers, McMaster and Tillerson, were in a ferocious fight over who would negotiate with Saudi Arabia to get $4 billion. The money was in part to fund operations in Syria, including a top-secret CIA project for the Syrian rebels code-named TEAK,” Woodward wrote.
Trump got furious when H.R. McMaster, the ex-national security advisor, tried to intervene in the deal with Saudi Arabia and negotiate it himself.
“‘Damn H.R.,’ Trump said. ‘This pointy-head academic has no sense of business or how to negotiate.”
According to General John Francis Kelly, Trump’s Chief of Staff, who had conversation with the US President on Jan 19, 2018, McMaster was not the guy for the job and he was not very successful with the Saudis till then.
Trump agreed that Rex Wayne Tillerson, the ex-Secretary of State was a suitable person to cut deals with the Saudis.
“Tillerson also knew the Saudis could not be trusted and for Trump, not trusting the people on the other side of the table was a first principle of haggling, of beating them down to get a better bargain. You had to be tough and say no to get to yes,” says the current New York Times best-seller.
Prior to the meeting with Kelly, as per a report by the Washington Post, Trump, in December, over a phone call, asked King Salman to contribute the exact same amount mentioned by Woodward i.e., US$4 billion to reconstruction and stabilization efforts in parts of Syria which are not held by government forces. The report confirms that U.S. finalized the deal with Saudi Arabia.
In March, three months after the events took place in Woodward’s book, the crown prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammed bin Salman traveled to the U.S. to hold a meeting with various U.S. officials and the president himself to talk about money.
Within four months of the said meeting, the U.S. announced fiscal withdrawal from Syria and at the same time, Saudi Arabia pledged money to "reconstruct" the part of Syria that the U.S. and its allies control.
In August, Donald Trump announced that the U.S. is in the final stages of the Syrian War even though it withdrew US$230 million that was meant to stabilize and rebuild the northeastern region of Syria.
While the U.S., citing a reduction of foreign aid, withdrew financial support from Syria, Saudi Arabia on the other hand, pledged US$100 million for the same reason receiving appreciation from the former.