Jessica Estepa

USA TODAY

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross likened the U.S. attack on a Syrian airbase to "after-dinner entertainment" for those who were at Mar-a-Lago that week, according to a new report.

The way Ross describes it, on April 6, in the middle of President Trump's summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping, "just as dessert was being served, the president explained to Mr. Xi he had something he wanted to tell him, which was the launching of 59 missiles into Syria. It was in lieu of after-dinner entertainment."

After the audience at the Milken Institute Global Conference laughed, per Variety, Ross continued: "The thing was, it didn’t cost the president anything to have that entertainment."

Even if the strikes were the "entertainment," they certainly did cost the president something.

The cost of a Tomahawk missile, per the Navy budget for fiscal year 2017, is $1.355 million. Given that the strike used 59 missiles, that comes out to roughly $79.9 million for just the missiles alone.

Ross's remarks to the conference were just the latest in unusual public remarks from the Commerce secretary on the Syria strike.

Ross was in the secured conference room at Mar-a-Lago where Trump and other administration officials huddled during the strike, though he's not necessarily charged with national security interests as head of the Commerce Department.

After the strike, he noted that the attack took out 20% of the Syrian air force, a number that was later confirmed by the Pentagon.