BY CHRIS MILLS RODRIGO, The Hill
President Trump said Sunday that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo “may be right” in casting doubt on the administration’s long-awaited Middle East peace plan.
“Look, we’re doing our best to help the Middle East to get a peace plan, and he [Pompeo] may be right. I mean, most people would say that,” Trump told reporters Sunday evening.
ADVERTISEMENT
“But if we can get a Mid-East peace plan that would be good. And when Mike says that, I understand when he says that, because most people think it can’t be done. I think it probably can. But as I say often, we’ll see what happens.”
Earlier Sunday The Washington Post reported that during a closed-door meeting with Jewish leaders Pompeo said “one might argue” that the plan is “unexecutable” and it might not “gain traction.”
“It may be rejected. Could be in the end, folks will say, ‘It’s not particularly original, it doesn’t particularly work for me,’ that is, ‘It’s got two good things and nine bad things, I’m out,’ ” Pompeo said in an audio recording of the private meeting obtained by the Post.
“The big question is can we get enough space that we can have a real conversation about how to build this out,” he said.
The Trump administration has promised since its early days to deliver a groundbreaking proposal to ensure peace between Israelis, Palestinians and other stakeholders in the Middle East.
White House senior adviser Jared Kushner signaled earlier this year that it could be rolled out in June after the conclusion of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and after recently reelected Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu formed a governing coalition.
That process was delayed last week when the Knesset voted to dissolve, a move that will force the prime minister to stand for election for a second time this year as corruption charges are being weighed against him.
Trump on Sunday called the re-election “ridiculous.”
“I mean, Bibi got elected, and now all of a sudden they’re going to have to go through the process again until September?” Trump asked. “That’s ridiculous. So we’re not happy about that.”
