Donald Trump’s shock announcement that he had canceled secret peace talks with the Taliban this weekend has prompted criticism and confusion, including from his own Republican party.

The Democratic presidential 2020 hopeful and Minnesota senator Amy Klobuchar ridiculed the president on Sunday morning, saying he approaches foreign policy like “some kind of gameshow”.

And the Republican congressman Adam Kinzinger of Illinois gave Trump a dressing down.

“Never should leaders of a terrorist organization that hasn’t renounced 9/11 and continues in evil be allowed in our great country. NEVER. Full stop,” he tweeted shortly after Trump’s announcement, also via Twitter, on Saturday night.

Never should leaders of a terrorist organization that hasn’t renounced 9/11 and continues in evil be allowed in our great country. NEVER. Full stop. https://t.co/pagnRFuFtc — Adam Kinzinger (@RepKinzinger) September 8, 2019

Trump revealed that separate meetings with the Afghan president, Ashraf Ghani, and Taliban leaders had been set to take place at Camp David this weekend.

He tweeted on Saturday: “Unbeknownst to almost everyone, the major Taliban leaders and, separately, the President of Afghanistan, were going to secretly meet with me at Camp David on Sunday. They were coming to the United States tonight,” Trump wrote.

He continued: “Unfortunately, in order to build false leverage, they admitted to....an attack in Kabul that killed one of our great great soldiers, and 11 other people. I immediately cancelled the meeting and called off peace negotiations.”

On Sunday, Liz Cheney, a Republican congresswoman representing Wyoming, criticized the summit while supporting its cancellation.

“Camp David is where America’s leaders met to plan our response after al Qaeda, supported by the Taliban, killed 3000 Americans on 9/11. No member of the Taliban should set foot there. Ever,” she tweeted on Sunday morning. “The Taliban still harbors al Qaeda. The President is right to end the talks.”

But the US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, who defended the summit on several morning news programs, attempted to deflected congressional criticism.

“I, you know, I, I served with Congressman Kinzinger. I know him well. I value him. I know Congresswoman Cheney as well. And I appreciate their points,” Pompeo said on ABC’s This Week With George Stephanopoulos on Sunday.

“In the end, if you’re going to negotiate peace, you often have to deal with some pretty bad actors. And I know the history, too, at Camp David, indeed.

“President Trump reflected on that. We all considered it as we were debating how to try and get to the right, ultimate outcome. While there have often been discussions about war at Camp David, there have been discussions about peace there as well,” Pompeo added.

Meanwhile, Klobuchar declared herself unimpressed but also baffled.

“Like so many leaders, I spent last night trying to figure out the meaning of the president’s tweet,” Klobuchar told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Sunday.

“Yes, we should be negotiating with the Afghan government and we should be negotiating with the Taliban to try to end the bloodshed in this country that has been going on for decades. The whole focus of this, of course, is to bring our troops home, which I strongly support,” she said.

“But this time, you see again that he has some kind of hastily arranged summit, which no one knew was happening. So, the whole thing doesn’t quite make sense to me. And it’s just another example of the president treating foreign policy like it’s some kind of gameshow,” she said, adding: “This isn’t a gameshow. These are terrorists.”

Tapper asked Klobuchar whether she would ask the Taliban to Camp David if she were president.

“If you had an ironclad agreement, you could look at anything. To me, that didn’t seem like the right venue to have this agreement made. That was my first reaction,” she said.

Julián Castro, another 2020 Democratic candidate, was also critical, telling Tapper: “It’s another bizarre episode.

“It’s more of his erratic behavior that people are tired of and that’s one of the reasons I believe that he’s going to lose in 2020,” said Castro, “it’s very odd to invite a terrorist organization like that to Camp David … not in keeping with the way the United States negotiates.”