President Donald Trump's threat to North Korea on Tuesday came off the cuff, according to The New York Times.
"North Korea best not make any more threats to the United States," Trump told reporters at his New Jersey golf club where he's staying for most of this month. "They will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen."
Trump made the comment while addressing the country's opioid crisis, which was all he had notes on, and what he had discussed with advisers beforehand, according to unnamed sources "with direct knowledge of what unfolded."
These sources said Trump hadn't checked with his advisers on the language he used towards North Korea, which appeared at odds with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's reassurance that Americans "should sleep at night" without worrying about nuclear war.
The Times reports that Trump's advisers are divided over North Korea, with Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and national security adviser H.R. McMaster, who are pushing for a strong response, aligned against chief strategist Steve Bannon. However, neither group advocated for language like "fire and fury," and the remark apparently surprised new White House chief of staff John Kelly, whose been with the president in New Jersey.
"The president had been told about a Washington Post story on North Korea's progress in miniaturizing nuclear warheads so that they could fit on top of a ballistic missile, and was in a bellicose mood, according to a person who spoke with him before he made the statement," writes the Times' Peter Baker and Glenn Thrush. "His team assumed that he would be asked about North Korea during a scheduled media appearance tied to his opioid meeting, but Mr. Trump had not mentioned his comment during a conference call beforehand that focused on North Korea."
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