President Trump said he won’t disclose what he plans to do amid reports that a Russian spy ship has been lurking off the East Coast this week.
“I’m not going to tell you anything about what I’m going to do,” he told reporters on Thursday.
He was reacting to a question following reports that the Russian spy ship Viktor Leonov had been spotted 70 miles off the coast of Delaware and later 30 miles off Connecticut.
“The greatest thing I could do is shoot that ship that’s 30 miles out right out of the water,” Trump said. “Everybody in this country would be ‘oh, that’s so great.’ That’s not great. That’s not great. I would love to be able to get along with Russia.”
Pentagon officials had a muted reaction to the ship’s presence this week, since it was in international waters, no different than the freedom-of-navigation operations conducted by U.S. ships near man-made islands claimed by China in the South China Sea.
In addition to the spy ship, Russian jets also buzzed the U.S. Navy destroyer Porter in the Black Sea on Friday, and news broke this week that Russia has deployed nuclear-tipped, intermediate-range cruise missiles in violation of a 1987 treaty.
Trump went on to discuss how important it would be for him to get along with Russian President Vladimir Putin, then said telegraphing military plans is something he won’t do. Trump brought up the Iraqi incursion into Mosul, which had been discussed ahead of time by the Pentagon and Iraqi Security Forces.
“I’m not going to talk about military stuff, I will not say ‘we are going to attack multiple in four months. We are going to attack in one month. Next week, we are going to attack Mosul.’
“In the meantime, Mosul is very, very difficult. You know why? I don’t talk about military and certain other things. You were going to be surprised to hear that, by the way, my whole campaign I said that,” he said. “I don’t have to tell you. I’m not going to be one of those guys who says ‘Here is what we are going to do.’ I don’t have to do that. I don’t have to tell you what I’m going to do in North Korea.”
Just this week, military officials cited progress in the Mosul fight, yielding a treasure trove of intelligence due to Islamic State members keeping rigorous records.
