Trump gave Putin the gift of 'credibility' by allowing him to fill the vacuum US left in Syria: Ex-NATO commander

Appearing on CNN's "New Day" to discuss developments in Syria after Donald Trump removed U.S. forces protecting the Kurds -- and allowed Russia to fill the void -- the former supreme allied commander of NATO said the president gave the gift of "credibility" to Russian President Vladimir Putin by letting him insert himself more deeply into the region.

Speaking with host John Berman, retired Admiral James Stavridis first explained how NATO works before getting into what the president has wrought with the U.S. pull-out in Syria that has allowed Putin to work hand-in-hand with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in dividing up the territory.

"What does Vladimir Putin get out of all of this?" Berman asked.

"He gets credibility at home," Stavridis explained. "There's a domestic component to this. He wants to appear to be a strong man; his ratings, if you will, have been going down a little bit and same thing with President Erdogan of Turkey. "

"Putin also, the converse of the United States, he's showing that he stands with an ally," he continued. "He has been with [Syrian President] Bashar al Assad, a war criminal, since the beginning. He backed that horse and he stayed with Assad, and it's the U.S. that has walked away from the Kurds. That's a nice contrast if you're Vladimir Putin maneuvering in the international scene."

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