President Donald Trump's son, Eric Trump, said his father and Defense Secretary James Mattis were "not playing" when it came to threats to the U.S., such as the one posed by North Korea, The Hill reported Sunday.
"I think having three or four aircraft carriers parked right off the peninsula really shows the might of a nation," Trump told Fox News' "Sunday Morning Features," in an apparent reference to three Navy aircraft carrier groups that were deployed last month to the Korean Peninsula ahead of the president's recent five–nation tour of Asia.
"It also makes it very very clear that we're not playing. You know, my father's not playing. Mattis, believe me, you know, these aren't people who play games," he added.
Eric Trump added his father and Mattis were "deadly serious about protecting this nation and protecting the free world against lunacy."
The Pentagon said last month the deployment had been planned and was not a response to North Korea, which has held numerous nuclear weapons tests while its leader Kim Jong Un has engaged in verbal attacks against Trump and the U.S.
"This was a unique opportunity to show that the U.S. is the only power in the world that can demonstrate that kind of presence and a unique opportunity for them to be together," a Pentagon spokeswoman told reporters in October.