Story highlights "It was in lieu of after-dinner entertainment," Ross said at the Milken Institute's Global Conference

Wilbur Ross, Trump's Secretary of Commerce, described his experience on April 7

Washington (CNN) A Trump Cabinet member who was with the President the night he launched a military strike in Syria characterized the attack as a form of "entertainment" on Monday.

Reflecting on last month's strike , ordered as Trump hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping at his Mar-a-Lago estate, Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross said: "It was in lieu of after-dinner entertainment."

"The thing was, it didn't cost the President anything to have that entertainment," Ross said at the Milken Institute's Global Conference in California, according to Variety.

Requests for comment from the Commerce Department and the White House were not immediately returned.

The strike followed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's suspected use of chemical weapons upon his own people, killing dozens.

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