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President Trump's willingness to anger Russian President Vladimir Putin by striking Syria shouldn't ease doubts about his ties to Moscow, a top Democrat said on Thursday.

"Regardless of what the administration claims about its relationship with Russia, the only way to understand the true scope and ties between the Trump White House and the Kremlin is an independent, 9/11-style commission," said New York Rep. Eliot Engel, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Engel attempted to block Trump from "making decisions that played into Putin's hands" by helping introduce a resolution last week opposing policy changes pertaining to Russia, just in advance of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's trip to Moscow. Within days, Trump ordered an attack on Assad, one of Russia's top allies in the Middle East. Republican lawmakers, in addition to supporting the Assad strike as a policy move, argued that Democrats such as Engel should feel reassured.

"For a lot of people, it will probably put to rest all this discussion about, oh, he and Putin are holding hands together," said Senate Intelligence Committee member James Risch, R-Idaho. "If that was the case on Wednesday, it wasn't the case by midnight on Thursday."

The cruise missile strike on the Syrian airfield that launched a chemical attack on civilians drew measured praise from Engel, who also acknowledged that it "increased tensions with Moscow," but he emphasized that it shouldn't drive away the specter of Trump colluding with Russia. "If the president and his administration have nothing to hide, then they should drop their opposition to such an inquiry, release his tax returns, and stop trying to use the recent military action as a defense," Engel said.

The New York Democrat has a reputation as one of the more bipartisan foreign policy leaders in the House, notably having broken with then-President Obama over the Iran nuclear agreement. He revived and tweaked George W. Bush's famous phrase recently to dub Russia and Iran "the axis of evil today."

Given Trump's stated interest in rapprochement with Russia, Tillerson's scheduled trip to Moscow suggested to Democrats that policy concessions would be in the offing, prompting Engel to make a preemptive attack on the Trump team's plans. "American policy needs to advance American interests, period," Engel said last week. "With this dark cloud hanging over the administration, we cannot know for sure what's motivating the president's decisions. Frankly, I think the president is far too cozy with Putin. I want to know why."

Trump's ensuing decision to attack Assad over the use of chemical weapons caused a round of sharp diplomatic clashes just as Tillerson arrived in Moscow, as the Russians suggested western forces staged the chemical weapons attack. "[Maybe] it was a staged provocation, a deliberate incident designed to create a pretext for increasing pressure on the legitimate Syrian authorities," Putin said. "That is all. But it must be investigated."

Trump praised Tillerson's performance in Russia, but remained agnostic about whether ties could be improved with Putin. "It'd be a fantastic thing if we got along with Putin and if we got along with Russia and that could happen and it may not happen," Trump said Wednesday. "It may be just the opposite. I can only tell you what I would like to do. I would love to get along with everybody."

Also from the Washington Examiner

"You heard of the #MOAB by now," the network tweeted.

04/14/17 11:09 AM

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Top Democrat: Syria strike doesn't prove Trump is independent of Russia - Washington Examiner