President Trump said Sunday that it was his idea to agree to halt “war games” with South Korea during his summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un because they’re expensive, as he slammed the media and Democrats for criticizing his negotiation.
The president took to Twitter to slam the “Fake News” for claiming he “gave sooo much to North Korea” just by meeting with the country’s leader last week in Singapore, where he agreed to drop the military drills, referred to as “war games,” with South Korea and North Korea agreed to commit to denuclearizing the peninsula.
The president also took a shot at Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, New York Democrat, who has criticized Mr. Trump’s agreement with Mr. Kim, saying that people are praising the denuclearization deal all over Asia.
“Chuck Schumer said ’the Summit was what the Texans call all cattle and no hat.’ Thank you Chuck, but are you sure you got that right? No more nuclear testing or rockets flying all over the place, blew up launch sites. Hostages already back, hero remains coming home & much more!” the president tweeted.
The president added: “Holding back the ’war games’ during the negotiations was my request because they are VERY EXPENSIVE and set a bad light during a good faith negotiation. Also, quite provocative. Can start up immediately if talks break down, which I hope will not happen!
But Sen. Jack Reed, Rhode Island Democrat, said Sunday that North Korea remains a nuclear threat, and he criticized the president’s move to pause the military exercises with South Korea.
“It is our deterrent … and if this goes for a long period of time, we’ll lose the skills we need to collaborate,” Mr. Reed told Fox News.
Mr. Trump said some people in the United States would rather see him fail than a historical peace agreement.
“The denuclearization deal with North Korea is being praised and celebrated all over Asia. They are so happy! Over here, in our country, some people would rather see this historic deal fail than give Trump a win, even if it does save potentially millions & millions of lives!” the president tweeted.
Rep. Michael McCaul, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, said that Defense Secretary James N. Mattis agreed with the president’s move to halt the military drills.
But Mr. McCaul warned that it is important to stay skeptical of Mr. Kim because three prior administrations were deceived by North Korea.
“The maximum pressure campaign has been working. We are willing to step back to that anytime,” he said.
• Alex Swoyer can be reached at aswoyer@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.