President Donald Trump’s call congratulating Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on the referendum vote was not necessarily an endorsement or acceptance of the results, the White House said Tuesday.
Speaking with reporters aboard Air Force One en route to Wisconsin on Tuesday, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House principal deputy press secretary, said the “bigger point and priority” of the Trump’s call on Monday was to talk about shared interests with a long-standing NATO ally.
“We want to encourage democracy. The purpose of the president's call yesterday was not to discourage that but simply to talk about some of the things like Syria where they can work together”, Sarah Huckabeee Sanders said.
Asked whether the call signaled Trump’s support for Erdoğan acquiring more power, Sanders said no, saying that wasn't the purpose of the call.
