A trio of leading House Democrats are calling out the Trump administration for keeping Congress in the dark on North Korea ahead of President Trump’s meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un next week.
“We are perplexed and troubled by the growing disconnect between the Intelligence Community’s assessment and your administration’s statements about Kim Jong Un’s actions, commitments, and intentions,” the heads of three national security-focused committees wrote in a letter to Trump on Thursday. “Furthermore, our ability to conduct oversight of U.S. policy toward North Korea on behalf of the American people has been inappropriately curtailed by your administration’s unwillingness to share information with Congress.”
The letter was signed by House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith, D-Wash., and House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif.
Trump and Kim are scheduled to meet in Vietnam from Feb. 27-28, marking the second time the two leaders have met. During their first summit in Singapore last year, the two leaders signed a declaration to “work toward complete denuclearization” of the Korean peninsula and work toward “a lasting and stable peace regime.”
But the Democrats pointed out Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats told the Senate last month “we currently assess that North Korea will seek to retain its WMD [weapons of mass destruction] capabilities and is unlikely to completely give up its nuclear weapons and production capability because its leaders ultimately view nuclear weapons as critical to regime survival.”
Furthermore, they cited that Adm. Phil Davidson, commander of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, said this month that it is “unlikely that North Korea will give up all of its nuclear weapons or production capabilities but seeks to negotiate partial denuclearization in exchange for U.S. and international concessions.”
The lawmakers said these conclusions were disturbing, noting they were at odds with statements Trump has made, including his claim last year after meeting Kim that North Korea was no longer a nuclear threat.
“It is unacceptable that the administration is planning for a second meeting with Chairman Kim before Congress has been briefed by Secretary [of State Mike] Pompeo on the June 2018 Singapore Summit,” they wrote. “There is no legitimate reason for having failed to provide regular, senior-level briefings to the relevant committees of jurisdiction on a matter of such significance to our national security.”
The letter demands Pompeo brief all House members of Congress on the results of the summit within seven days.
The Trump administration also has yet to provide Congress a report on North Korea’s nuclear capabilities that was due in October 2018, in accordance with the defense authorization bill. Engel, Smith and Schiff urged the administration to not further delay its submission.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Washington Examiner.
Trump has spoken fondly of Kim and said in September that he and Kim “fell in love.” Trump also told reporters on Wednesday that he has a “very good” relationship with Kim, and expressed optimism about reaching an agreement with North Korea.
