Gov. Ron DeSantis says he'd do whatever it takes to rescue the eight American hostages held by Hamas.
That includes potentially sending U.S. troops to Israel, in the event he became President.
During a "Fox & Friends" segment, the 2024 presidential candidate clarified a misunderstanding from the previous night's debate about whether he'd send troops into Israel to fight the war.
"You do what you need to do, based on the circumstances to be able to get them home. But as Commander-in-Chief, there's going to be plans, there's going to be options and you have to vet that," DeSantis said, adding that "you have to get your people" in cross talk with interviewer Lawrence B. Jones.
During the debate Wednesday, Chris Christie criticized the Governor for dodging a direct answer to the question.
"He went onto this minute-and-30-second hosanna about his knowledge of the military," Christie said. "He didn't answer your question. When you're President of the United States, you're not going to have a choice whether to answer that question or not."
Back in October, DeSantis talked about troops to Israel, contending that any U.S. military entanglement would be "classified and secret."
In addition to not ruling out "Special Forces," DeSantis opened the door to "others who can be involved in hostage rescue attempts," saying at the time those "may be something where this is being done by Israel and that wouldn't be necessary."
Though DeSantis left the door open to the American military being engaged in "hostage rescue attempts," he stressed that any engagement should necessarily be in a limited, support role.
"In terms of the overall conflict, it's Israel's war. They've never asked us to fight their wars for them. We have a long-standing military support relationship. I would continue that. But you wouldn't see ground troops fighting in Israel if I were President."
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