Tag: Donald Trump

New Book Claims that Kim Jong-un was Hitting on Sarah Huckabee Sanders During Summit

So this is this the real reason a peace deal wasn’t struck between Trump and Kim, Sarah Huckabee Sanders wouldn’t take one for the team? 😉

President Donald Trump told Sarah Huckabee Sanders, a former White House press secretary, to go to North Korea and take one “for the team” after Kim Jong Un appeared to wink at her during a summit in 2018, she said in a new book.

In her memoir, a copy of which was obtained by The Guardian, Sanders described an incident at the summit in Singapore with Trump, Kim, and a collection of their aides.

She said in the book, set to be released next Tuesday, that during a session of talks, Kim “reluctantly” accepted a Tic Tac mint from Trump, who “dramatically blew into the air to reassure Kim it was just a breath mint” and not poison. (……)

The former press secretary said that later, in the presidential limousine, she told Trump and John Kelly, who was then his chief of staff, about the incident.

“Kim Jong Un hit on you!” Trump said, according to Sanders. “He did! He f—ing hit on you!”

Sanders replied, “Sir, please stop.”

“Well, Sarah, that settles it. You’re going to North Korea and taking one for the team!” Trump told her, Sanders said. “Your husband and kids will miss you, but you’ll be a hero to your country!”

Trump and Kelly then “howled with laughter,” Sanders said.

Business Insider

You can read more at the link, but if Trump was to hold another summit and brought current Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany with him Kim Jong-un might just surrender on the spot. 🙂

President Trump Believes His Reelection Will Lead to A Deal with North Korea

If the White House settles for something less than full denuclearization a deal can likely be reached with North Korea:

U.S. President Donald Trump said Friday he will make deals with North Korea “very quickly” if reelected in November.

Trump was referring to his administration’s stalled efforts to get North Korea to dismantle its nuclear weapons program in exchange for concessions.

“If and when we win, we will make deals with Iran very quickly. We’ll make deals with North Korea very quickly,” he said during a press conference in Bedminster, New Jersey.

“Now whatever happened to the word North Korea? You haven’t seen that, have you?” he continued. “If I didn’t win the election in 2016, our country would now be — maybe it would be over by now — but in war with North Korea.”

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but the best deal North Korea will ever agree to is “pretend denuclearization“.

Maryland Governor Claims President Trump Does Not Like Dealing with President Moon

The fact that President Trump does not like dealing with President Moon should come as no surprise. The other claim from the governor is that Trump said Koreans were “terrible”:

This AP file photo shows Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (Yonhap)

U.S. President Donald Trump told governors in February that he doesn’t like dealing with South Korean President Moon Jae-in and thinks the South Korean people are “terrible,” Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan said Thursday.

Hogan, a Republican, wrote in The Washington Post that Trump had harsh words for South Korea, the birthplace of the governor’s wife, Yumi, during a private dinner sponsored by the Republican Governors Association.

“I don’t remember him mentioning the virus,” Hogan said, “but he talked about how much he respected President Xi Jinping of China; how much he liked playing golf with his buddy ‘Shinzo,’ Prime Minister Abe of Japan; how well he got along with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un.

“Then, the jarring part,” he continued. “Trump said he really didn’t like dealing with President Moon from South Korea. The South Koreans were ‘terrible people,’ he said, and he didn’t know why the United States had been protecting them all these years. ‘They don’t pay us,’ Trump complained.”

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but if true based on the context it sounds like Trump wasn’t saying Korean in general are “terrible”, but the Koreans in the government are terrible for not paying more the upkeep of the US-ROK alliance.

Should Statue Topplers Receive Jail Time?

Maybe I missed it, but when was vandalism ever legalized?:

The statue of a Confederate soldier and plinth sit on a flatbed truck at the Old Capitol in Raleigh, N.C., on June 21, 2020. After protesters pulled down two smaller statues on the same monument, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper ordered the removal of several other monuments to the Confederacy, citing public safety concerns. (Allen G. Breed/AP)

President Donald Trump this week threatened a decade of jail time for protesters defacing and toppling statues on federal lands, citing a little known law designed to punish vandalism at American veteran cemeteries.

On Tuesday morning, Trump tweeted that he had authorized federal officials to “arrest anyone who vandalizes or destroys any monument, statue or other such federal property in the U.S. with up to 10 years in prison, per the Veterans’ Memorial Preservation Act, or such other laws that may be pertinent.”

But no presidential authorization is necessary.

Military Times

You can read more at the link, but if you haven’t heard the BLM folks are now tearing down statues honoring abolitionists.

Bolton Book Claims Kim Jong-un Did not Want Moon Around During DMZ Meeting with Trump

Here is the latest headline from John Bolton’s book:

A copy of "The Room Where It Happened" by U.S. President Donald Trump’s former National Security Advisor John Bolton is photographed at the White House last Thursday in Washington ahead of its release Tuesday. [AP/YONHAP]
A copy of “The Room Where It Happened” by U.S. President Donald Trump’s former National Security Advisor John Bolton is photographed at the White House last Thursday in Washington ahead of its release Tuesday. [AP/YONHAP]

U.S. President Donald Trump didn’t want South Korean President Moon Jae-in to join him during his third meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in the demilitarized zone (DMZ) in June 2019, according to John Bolton, the former U.S. national security adviser, in his memoir.    
   
“The Room Where It Happened,” the Bolton memoir set to be published Tuesday, details the three Kim-Trump meetings and the considerable amount of energy expended by Bolton to thwart any U.S. concessions to North Korea.  
   
In a tweet on June 28, 2019, Trump — who was on an official trip to Japan and Korea — offered to shake hands and say hello with North Korean leader Kim, which led to the impromptu meeting days later on June 30 in the inter-Korean truce village of Panmunjom. This marked the first time a sitting U.S. president stepped onto North Korean soil, and took place during Trump’s visit to Seoul for a summit with Moon.    
   
According to Bolton, “Trump wanted Moon nowhere around, but Moon was determined to be present, making it a trilateral meeting if he could.” Bolton had “entertained the faint hope that this dispute with Moon could tank the whole thing, because it was certain Kim didn’t want Moon around.” 

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

North Korea Says Kim Jong-un Will End Relationship with President Trump If Sanctions Are Not Dropped

It looks like North Korea wants to stay in the headlines and dump on Trump like everyone else it seems like now a days:

North Korea on Friday again vowed to build up its military force to counter what it perceives as U.S. threats and said there would be little reason for a personal relationship between leader Kim Jong Un and President Donald Trump if Washington persists with sanctions and pressure.

On the two-year anniversary of the leaders’ first summit, North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Son Gwon said the North would never again gift Trump with high-profile meetings and concessions he could boast as foreign policy achievements unless it gets something substantial in return.

“The question is whether there will be a need to keep holding hands shaken in Singapore, as we see that there is nothing of factual improvement to be made in the DPRK-U.S. relations simply by maintaining personal relations between our supreme leadership and the U.S. President,” Ri said in a statement carried by state media, referring to North Korea by its formal name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

Associated Press

You can read more at the link.

President Trump Says He Knows How Kim Jong-un is Doing

Here is the latest from President Trump on the health of Kim Jong-un:

President Trump was asked about the widespread speculation surrounding the health of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during a White House news conference on the coronavirus on Monday. Trump suggested he knew “exactly” how Kim is doing, but declined to reveal that information. 

“Yes I do have a very good idea, but I can’t talk about it now,” said Trump when he was asked to provide an update on Kim’s condition. “I just wish him well.”

Yahoo News

You can read more at the link.

President Trump Says He Does Not Put Much Credence in CNN Report About Kim Jong-un’s Health

Here is the latest on the Kim Jong-un health watch:

This EPA photo shows U.S. President Donald Trump during a coronavirus press briefing at the White House on April 21, 2020. (Yonhap)

 U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday he does not know about the health condition of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un but hopes he is doing well amid unconfirmed reports that the young leader may be seriously ill.

“These are reports that came out, and we don’t know. We don’t know,” Trump said at a White House coronavirus press briefing. “I can only say this: I wish him well. Because if he is in the kind of condition that the reports say, that the news is saying, that’s a very serious condition, as you know, but I wish him well.”

Trump said he doesn’t place “too much credence” in any report put out by CNN. Citing an unidentified U.S. official, CNN first reported that the U.S. is looking into intelligence that Kim is in “grave danger” after a surgery.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.