WATCH: Reporter Confronts Trump Over Escaped ISIS Fighters Seconds After He Claims They’re ‘Largely’ Recaptured

Seconds after President Donald Trump finished announcing his “somewhat questionable” ceasefire in Syria, a reporter confronted him over his claim that escaped ISIS fighters have been “largely” recaptured, which is contradicted by Trump’s own Syria envoy.

On Wednesday afternoon, Trump spoke for about 15 minutes to announce a ceasefire agreement in Syria between the Kurds and the government of Turkey. During those remarks, Trump claimed that the ISIS fighters who escaped after Trump’s snap decision to abandon the Kurds have “been largely recaptured.”

“There were a few that got out, a small number, relatively speaking, and they’ve been largely recaptured,” Trump said.

But as he exited, a reporter confronted Trump, saying “Mr President, you said that the ISIS fighters who escaped have been recaptured, but today your top envoy said that’s not true, that they don’t know where they are. Do you have a comment?”

Trump ignored the question as he strode from the room.

The reporter was referring to testimony given by State Department Special Representative on Syria James Jeffrey at a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing entitled “The Betrayal of our Syrian Kurdish Partners: How Will American Foreign Policy and Leadership Recover?”

Chairman Eliot Engel told Jeffrey that “Yesterday, in testimony before the Senate, you confirmed the State Department is aware of, you said dozens of detained ISIS fighters that escaped SDF custody following the Turkish incursion, and that Secretary of Defense Mike Esper had pegged the number of escapees at over 100.

“How many ISIS detainees have escaped, does the US have an idea where these individuals are, and is the US able to monitor or effectively operate against ISIS giving the withdrawal of US forces?” Engel asked.

“Again, as Secretary Esper said, we would say that the number is now over 100,” Jeffrey said, and added “We do not know where they are.”

Watch both clips above, via Fox News and C-SPAN.

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