Eric Trump, President Donald Trump's 33-year-old son, told The Daily Telegraph on Monday that his sister Ivanka told their father to strike Syria following a chemical weapons attack on civilians last week believed to be carried out by the Syrian military.
Trump said his sister was "heartbroken and outraged" by the chemical attack, which killed dozens of people, including children.
"Ivanka is a mother of three kids and she has influence," Trump said. "I'm sure she said, 'Listen, this is horrible stuff.' My father will act in times like that."
Ivanka Trump recently took an official position in the White House as an assistant to her father.
Eric Trump, who spoke with The Daily Telegraph during a visit to the Trump Turnberry golf resort in Ayrshire, Scotland, said his father was "deeply affected" by the images and video footage he saw of children being "sprayed down by hoses to keep their skin from burning." Trump added that he believed his father had a moral obligation to act against the Syrian government.
"It was horrible," he said. "These guys are savages and I'm glad he responded the way he responded. I'm proud he took that action, and believe me he thinks things through."
He added that his father's views on the US's involvement in Syria had changed because of the brutality of last week's attack.
"And by the way, he was anti doing anything with Syria two years ago," Trump said. "Then a leader gasses their own people, women and children, at some point America is the global leader and the world's superpower has to come forward and act and they did with a lot of support of our allies and I think that's a great thing."
Following the Syrian government's chemical attack on civilians in 2013, Donald Trump repeatedly implored President Barack Obama not to take action against the Syrian regime, arguing that a US attack would "bring nothing but trouble" for the US.
In contrast to his statements in 2013, Trump as president argued that last week's chemical attack was a result of the Obama administration's "weakness and irresolution" following the Syrian regime's 2013 chemical attack.
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