Trump Will Host Entire Senate at White House for North Korea Briefing
President Donald Trump will host the entire U.S. Senate on Wednesday for a briefing on the situation with North Korea. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis will join the senators along with Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford and Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats.
It will take place at 3PM ET.
Press Secretary Sean Spicer told the media that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell called for the meeting. The Senate usually holds these meetings at a secure location on Capitol Hill, but Trump offered to host the meeting at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building.
The building “houses most of the National Security Council.” Officials will turn the auditorium into a “sensitive compartmented information facility” (SCIF), “which is the term for a room where sensitive national security information can be shared.”
Reuters confirmed the meeting after Trump spoke with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Monday. The call took place after “satellite images indicated increased activity around North Korea’s nuclear test site.” Kim Jong Un has declared that his country has entered its “final stage” to launch an ICBM (intercontinental ballistic missile).
Fox News reported:
Xi told Trump that China strongly opposed North Korea’s nuclear weapons program and hoped “all parties will exercise restraint and avoid aggravating the situation,” according to Chinese broadcaster CCTV. Trump hopes China could increase pressure on its isolated ally instead of using military options or trying to overthrow Kim Jong Un’s regime.Trump and Abe agreed to urge North Korea to refrain from provocative actions.”The North Korean nuclear and missile problem is an extremely serious security threat to not only the international community but also our country,” Abe told reporters after the phone call with Trump.
Last Friday, South Korea put itself on high alert right before North Korea’s celebration of the founding of the Korean People’s Army. The U.S. has also noticed “a higher-than-usual level of activity by Chinese bombers, signalling a possible heightened state of readiness by Beijing.”
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