Trump Administration wants Senate to lift restrictions on F-35s to Turkey

The US government has expressed its opposition to legislative initiatives by Congress to restrict the transfer of F-35 fighter jets to Turkey in a letter signed by the director of the White House's Office of Management and Budget, Mick Mulvaney.

"Turkey is an important NATO ally and has been an international participant with the F-35 program since 2002," Mulvaney wrote in the July 9 letter to Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby.

"The administration shares the Congress's concerns over recent Turkish actions but opposes language that preemptively restricts its ability to work with Turkey to address those concerns," he added. 

The Senate committee has said that the transfer of the F-35s should not occur "until the Secretary of State certifies to the appropriate congressional committees that the government of Turkey is not purchasing the S-400...