President Donald Trump is open to preemptive military action against North Korea if negotiating with Pyongyang does not work, South Carolina senator Lindsey Graham told conservative host Hugh Hewitt Thursday. “If negotiations fail, he is willing to abandon strategic patience and use preemption. I think he’s there mentally. He has told me this.”
Graham stressed that Trump resolved “long ago” to try and solve the situation through negotiations first, but that the president was set on denying North Korea the capability to strike America.
“I’m 100% confident that if President Trump had to use military force to deny the North Koreans the capability to strike America with a nuclear-tipped missile, he would do that,” he said. “He’s going to listen to sound military advice, but he’s made a decision in his own mind not to let that happen on his watch.”
The South Carolina senator said that Trump does not need congressional approval to use military force against Pyongyang. But he said that Congress should authorize it anyway and send a message to China, which could in turn pressure Kim Jong-un.
“It would be very smart if the Congress could come together and tell the President you have our authorization to use military force to stop the threat to the homeland as a last resort,” he said. “That would send a signal to North Korea and China that would probably do more good to avoid war than anything I can think of.”
President Trump on Tuesday warned that North Korea could “face fire and fury like the world has never seen” if it continued threatening the United States. His remark came on the heels of a report that the country had successfully produced a miniaturized nuclear warhead that can fit in a missile.
The president’s comment triggered a chorus of condemnation from Democrats, who said it was reckless and drew a red line.
Graham said the president’s tone on North Korea was a welcome change.
“His rhetoric yesterday, I think, is a change that is probably necessary. Everybody who spoke before him failed,” he said. “There’s no place for him to kick the can down the road.”
Trump’s State Department offered a measured tone Wednesday after North Korea said it was considering firing missiles around the nearby U.S. island territory of Guam.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told reporters that there was no imminent threat and that the president’s rhetoric was an attempt to communicate in terms North Korea would understand. He also doubled down on support for diplomatic and economic isolation against the country, with the potential for future negotiations.
The United Nations Security Council voted unanimously for a U.S.-led measure levying more sanctions against North Korea last week, triggering a stream of threats from officials there.
Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis, meanwhile, issued a stern warning to North Korea about U.S. military capabilities:
“While our State Department is making every effort to resolve this global threat through diplomatic means, it must be noted that the combined allied militaries now possess the most precise, rehearsed and robust defensive and offensive capabilities on Earth,” he said. “The DPRK regime’s actions will continue to be grossly overmatched by ours and would lose any arms race or conflict it initiates.”
