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Mike Pence Just Announced That ‘ISIS Has Been Defeated’ — There’s One Big Problem Though

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Vice President Mike Pence just declared that ISIS “defeated” in remarks at the State Department Wednesday — delivered just hours after the terror group claimed credit for a deadly suicide bombing that killed several U.S. service members.

“The caliphate has crumbled and ISIS has been defeated,” Pence said during an address to the Global Chiefs of Mission Conference at the State Department.




Pence celebrated victory over ISIS hours after a coalition spokesman confirmed reports that an unspecified number of American troops were killed in a suicide bombing Wednesday while patrolling the northern Syrian city of Manbij. Reuters, citing a U.S. official, reported that four U.S. troops were killed and at least four others were injured in the blast.

ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack on its official propaganda website, Amaq.

“The President has been fully briefed and we will continue to monitor the ongoing situation in Syria,” White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement released ahead of Pence’s address.




The bombing marked the first time ISIS had taken credit for an attack on coalition forces since Donald Trump announced the immediate withdrawal of troops from Syria after a call with Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan last month. Trump tweeted on Dec. 19 that the U.S. had “defeated ISIS in Syria, my only reason for being there.” He posted a video the same day in which he said troops in the war-torn country are “all coming back and they’re coming back now.”

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