President Trump urged Defense Secretary Jim Mattis to join him on Wednesday in repudiating an NBC News that claimed he once asked for a tenfold increase in the country’s nuclear weapons arsenal.
“I never discussed increasing it. I want them in perfect condition. That’s just fake news by NBC,” Trump told reporters during a bilateral meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
“Gen. Mattis is putting out a statement saying that was fake news,” he added. “And it, frankly, is disgusting the way the press is able to write anything they want to write.”
Mattis released a statement just minutes after Trump finished speaking with reporters: “Recent reports that the President called for an increase in the U.S. nuclear arsenal are absolutely false. This kind of erroneous reporting is irresponsible.”
According to the report by NBC, Trump asked his senior advisers about increasing America’s nuclear stockpile during a Pentagon briefing in July where he was shown charts that depicted a steady decline in U.S. nuclear capabilities since the 1960s. The president blasted the report as “pure fiction” early Wednesday morning, and later threatened to “challenge [NBC’s] license.”
“I want modernization and total rehabilitation. It’s gotta be in tip-top shape,” Trump said during his sit-down with Trudeau. “I know the capability of what we have, believe me. And it is awesome. It is massive.”
The president also accused reporters of fabricating their sources – a claim he has repeatedly made since taking office.
“They just make up stories like that. They just make it up. And then they have their sources that don’t exist, in my opinion. They make up sources,” he said.
