President Donald Trump pushed back on new reporting that Senate Republicans have implored him not to order military strikes against Cuba.
The 79-year-old president fired off a 40-word denial, seemingly in response to a new report published by The Hill, on Tuesday morning before jetting off to China for talks with Xi Jinping.
"No Republican has ever spoken to me about Cuba, which is a failed country and only heading in one direction - down!" Trump posted. "Cuba is asking for help, and we are going to talk!!! In the meantime, I’m off to China!"
The post came amid an early morning posting spree on Truth Social before departing on Air Force One, and appears to be prompted by a report that Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) and other GOP senators have cautioned the president about a potential military operation in Cuba while tensions remain high with Iran.
“I think right now we’re focused on where we are and that is trying to get the Strait of Hormuz opened up,” Thune said Monday.
“I’d love to see regime change, we all would, in Cuba,” Thune added. “Maybe that happens just by force of events. I think things are happening around the world putting more pressure on a lot of these dictatorial-type governments. Maybe there’s something there that will happen organically.”
Trump and other administration officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, have repeatedly made statements threatening action against Havana, and the president suggested earlier this month that he might deploy an aircraft carrier group off Cuba's coast, but GOP senators seem cool to supporting military action.
“No, I would not," said Sen. James Lankford (R-OK). “There’s a lot of economic pressure you can put on Cuba that makes a big difference by itself."
Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), who chairs the Republican Policy Committee, agreed that Iran should remain the administration's main focus.
“It’s way down the list, even if it’s on a list,” Capito said. “I just think we got to concentrate on what’s going on in Iran.”