White House chief of staff Reince Preibus touted President’s Trump work to assemble a coalition of countries in the Asian-Pacific rim who are ready and willing to work with the U.S. to put pressure on the North Korean regime.
“We’ve got a president that means business,” Priebus said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week.” “Working with China to put pressure on North Korea, working with our allies. Yesterday, he had a conversation with the president of the Philippines. Today, he’ll talk to Singapore and Thailand. He keeps in close contact with the president in Japan, President [Shinzo] Abe. This is a mission-driven president who spends a lot of time talking to allies and talking with our experts.”
Preibus’ remarks come less than two days after the communist regime ran their latest missile test. The U.S. military said the missile broke up mid-flight over land.
The missile test drew a response from the president on Twitter, who said, “North Korea disrespected the wishes of China & its highly respected President when it launched, though unsuccessfully, a missile today. Bad!”
Outside of tweeting, the president has also said that a major conflict with North Korea is possible. In an interview Friday with Reuters, Trump said, “We’d love to solve things diplomatically but it’s very difficult.”
True to the strategies of the Trump administration, Priebus said the White House wanted North Korea to know that the U.S. would not telegraph its next moves in reaction to the military provocations.
When asked by ABC’s Jonathan Karl if the U.S. would ever enter direct talks with Kim Jong Un, Preibus deferred.
“‘I’m not sure about that. I don’t want to get ahead of him or the foreign policy team on that matter,” Preibus said.
On the domestic front, Priebus reacted to yet more questions about having President Trump release his taxes by suggesting it was only Democratic members of Congress and members of the media who wanted to see Trump’s taxes.
“This issue has been litigated before the American people,” Preibus said. “And the American people issued a judgment in November. President Trump won one of the most historic presidential victories in the history of our country. The only people asking me this question are people like you.”
