White House officials have been holding private meetings this week aimed at soothing lawmakers' concerns over the US posture in Syria, the future of the American military presence in Afghanistan and defense spending. The meetings come as a frustrated White House seeks to push back at criticism of President Barack Obama's foreign policy.
But the White House outreach appeared to be having little effect on some lawmakers' concerns.
Sen Bob Corker, the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, described Tuesday night's White House meeting with chief of staff Denis McDonough and national security adviser Susan Rice as "one of the most bizarre I've attended."
Another senator who attended the meeting said Obama's advisers refused to provide lawmakers with answers about whether the president plans to keep US troops in Afghanistan after the war formally concludes later this year or about the Pentagon's efforts to find nearly 300 kidnapped Nigerian school girls.
Unsatisfied, some of the lawmakers started to leave one by one before the meeting had finished. The senator and three congressional aides briefed on the meeting insisted on anonymity to discuss the private talks.
Asked about Corker's assertion that Tuesday's meeting was "bizarre," White House spokesman Jay Carney said Friday, "I don't know what he's referring to."
The meetings, which have been taking place both at the White House and in Congress come as Obama prepares for a speech Wednesday at the US Military Academy at West Point, New York, where he is expected to try to answer critics who say he has surrendered America's global leadership and faltered on problems in the Middle East, Russia, China and beyond.
McDonough and Rice met at the White House on Monday night with about a dozen House Democrats. On Tuesday, officials invited 14 senators, three of them were Republicans, to the White House for a discussion on foreign policy over wine, beer, and a cheese and cracker platter on the patio outside of McDonough's office.
The chief of staff was also on Capitol Hill on Tuesday for a foreign policy-focused meeting with the full House. He met with the full Senate yesterday, though national security took a backseat in that discussion to economic issues.
Among the Democrats who attended the Tuesday meeting were Sen. Bob Menendez, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee; Sen Carl Levin; and Sen Jack Reed. The three Republicans who attended were Corker, Sen. Jeff Flake and Sen Susan Collins.
A White House official said six Republicans were invited to the meeting, but half did not attend.
