The territorial ISIS caliphate in Syria has now been 100 percent eliminated, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders announced on Friday.
President Donald Trump has, on numerous occasions before now, announced ISIS’ defeat, but this time it would appeared the claim had the full backing of the White House and Pentagon.
Sanders, speaking to the traveling press pool of reporters on Air Force One as the president headed to Florida, Sanders directed reporters to the Department of Defense for further questions but shared a photo of what appeared to be the same map President Trump declassified and showed reporters on Wednesday.
She said acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan was on the plane and had briefed the president on the news.
When asked for comment, a Pentagon spokesman told ABC News “We do not have an operational statement at this time.”
After Trump got off the plane in Florida, according to a pool report, he walked over to to waiting reporters and cameras with the same map he had used Wednesday,except without the small dot of red indicating ISIS-held territory that had been there before.
“This is what we have right now, as of last night,” Trump said. “I think it’s about time,” he said according to the pool report.
ABC News’ Luis Martinez contributeed to this report.
