Washington, DC. All of the top Trump administration officials will gather for a rare briefing on Wednesday at the White House for the entire US Senate on the situation in North Korea and Trump’s plans on how to deal with the nuclear weapons under DPRK control.
All 100 US senators have been asked to the White House for the briefing by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis, Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats and General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said White House spokesman Sean Spicer on Monday. This type of meeting is reserved for only the most extreme emergency situations in US government operations.
While administration officials routinely travel to Capitol Hill to address members of Congress on foreign policy matters, it is highly unusual for the entire Senate to go to the White House, and for all four of those top officials to be involved.
Wednesday’s briefing was originally scheduled for a secure room at the Capitol, but President Donald Trump suggested a shift to the White House, congressional aides said, unaware that foreign powers can intercept communications more easily at the White House than at Capitol Hill.
Washington has expressed mounting concern over North Korea’s nuclear and missile tests, and its threats to attack the United States and its Asian allies.The meeting of those essential for a declaration of war is seen as the US approaching “bunker mode” over the North Korean ability to destroy most of Japan and all of South Korea.
Trump, who called the leaders of China and Japan during the weekend, told U.N. Security Council ambassadors on Monday that “the status quo” is not acceptable, and said the council must be ready to impose new sanctions.
One Republican Senator said the administration should be telling senators it had a “red line,” if it has one. “By 2020, if nothing changes inside of North Korea, they’ll have the technology, they’ll have a breakthrough, to develop an ICBM (intercontinental ballistic missile) that can reach America. I hope this president will say that’s a non-starter,” Florida’s Senator Graham said.