A Republican lawmaker from Florida has accused President Donald Trump of not being “totally sincere” in his threats to use nuclear weapons if North Korea tests another hydrogen bomb.
Republican Sen. Marco Rubio, who is currently in the Senate, said Trump was not “truly” sincere in his threat to launch a nuclear strike against the United States and that he was “not a real American” who would dare to threaten such a destructive act.
“The president is not a real man.
He’s not a true American,” Rubio told reporters in Florida, where he is campaigning for a Republican Senate seat.”
And so, if I were the president, I would do the exact opposite of what he is proposing,” he said.”
I would not be afraid of the president.”
The Florida Republican was speaking on the same day as a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on North Korea.
The hearing, sponsored by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), focused on North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s comments to US President Donald J. Trump in February that the US will not attack North Korea, or even threaten to attack it, unless the country dismantles its nuclear weapons.
The committee was also to examine North Korea’s nuclear tests and other ballistic missile programs.
But Trump’s remarks were widely seen as a signal that he is prepared to use a military option if North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un threatens the US or other countries.
At the time, Trump told a meeting of the US Strategic Command that he would consider using “fire and fury” if North Koreans continued to threaten the US, and suggested that he may order a nuclear attack against North Korea in the event of its continued threats.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.