Mnuchin: We've Issued "Warning" to Turkey over Genocide of Kurds

Secretary Mnuchin Provides and Update on Iran Policy and Sanctions at the Washington Foreign Press Center

Despite the President this morning declaring that the United States should "let" Turkey and the Kurds "fight," and implying that Kurds are terrorists, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin says that Mr. Trump has put Turkey "on warning."

The warning, according to Mr. Mnuchin, is that the United States has the ability to destroy the Turkish economy, and that we'd do exactly that if Turkey continues murdering civilians.

The Kurds, Mr. Mnuchin added, are not "long standing allies" of the United States, in part because they do not own "land."

Turkey invaded northern Syria this week after President Trump publicly announced the withdrawal of US troops. Experts predicted that Turkey would invade within days of the event, which the President denied on Twitter, claiming his "unmatched wisdom" told him that would not happen.

Turkey invaded within 48 hours of the move.

Here is an excerpt of Mr. Mnuchin's interview with ABC's This Week:

Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin on Turkey: "We've put them on warning. The president has authorized me to effectively shut down the entire Turkey economy and we can do that at a moments notice on his command" https://t.co/hRjtUkcvAV pic.twitter.com/cocSO1KnuE

— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) October 13, 2019