HOT BREAKING: Trump May Be Preparing Another Attack on Syria

The White House has just released this statement:

THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

June 26, 2017

Statement from the Press Secretary

The United States has identified potential preparations for another chemical weapons attack by the Assad regime that would likely result in the mass murder of civilians, including innocent children.  The activities are similar to preparations the regime made before its April 4, 2017 chemical weapons attack.

As we have previously stated, the United States is in Syria to eliminate the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.  If, however, Mr. Assad conducts another mass murder attack using chemical weapons, he and his military will pay a heavy price.

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(ht Felix Bronstein)

UPDATE

HOT and now this from US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley:

Any further attacks done to the people of Syria will be blamed on Assad, but also on Russia & Iran who support him killing his own people.

— Nikki Haley (@nikkihaley) June 27, 2017

UPDATE 2

Via Axios:

 The statement seemed to come out of nowhere — even to some in the Pentagon. Per Buzzfeed News, "Five defense officials... said they not only did not know where the potential chemical attack would come from, but they were unaware the White House was planning to release the statement."

UPDATE 3

From AP:

Several State Department officials typically involved in coordinating such announcements said they were caught completely off guard by the warning, which didn't appear to be discussed in advance with other national security agencies. Typically, the State Department, the Pentagon and U.S. intelligence agencies would all be consulted before the White House issued a declaration sure to ricochet across foreign capitals

UPDATE 4

From AP:

Less than an hour after Spicer issued the statement, Trump was back to tweeting about the 2016 campaign, denouncing investigations into potential collusion between Moscow and his campaign aides as a "Witch Hunt!"