During a meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau Wednesday, President Trump denied an NBC News report Wednesday claiming he asked to increase the U.S. nuclear arsenal tenfold, and called the story "frankly disgusting":
"It's totally unnecessary [to increase our nukes] because I know what we have right now... We don't need an increase... and it's frankly disgusting the way the press is able to write whatever they want to write."
Chris Murphy, who sits on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, tweeted Monday he and "many" others have been hearing more "serious war talk in and near the White House" related to North Korea.
His takeaway: It's time for Congress to "take Trump seriously as he keeps hinting, over and over, that he wants to go to war with North Korea" and get a new AUMF passed.
President Trump asked Wednesday morning when it would be "appropriate to challenge [NBC's] License." But NBC's main network doesn't have a government license, and Trump doesn't have the power to directly take away the licenses that do exist — for the local stations that run its content.
Why it matters: Trump has regularly attacked the press, and his threat here is serious: to try and take a broadcast network off the air because he doesn't like its recent stories. It's a tactic that echoes Richard Nixon, who targeted licenses held by the Washington Post. But it's legally more complicated than the president's tweet makes it seem.
Trump said he wanted to increase the U.S. nuclear arsenal tenfold at a July meeting with his highest-ranking national security leaders, per "three officials who were in the room," NBC News reports.
"Officials in the Pentagon meeting were rattled by the president's desire for more nuclear weapons and his understanding of other national security issues from the Korean peninsula to Iraq and Afghanistan, the officials said."
Donald Trump called out Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) again on Twitter this morning: "The Failing @nytimes set Liddle' Bob Corker up by recording his conversation. Was made to sound a fool, and that's what I am dealing with!"
Why it matters: This comes one day after the New York Times published a story in which Corker, who has been feuding with Trump since last week, accused the President of treating the office like a "a reality show," and claimed he could set the U.S. "on the path to World War III." Jonathan Martin, who wrote the story, tweeted that Corker's two aides also recorded the conversation and were aware he was recording.
Trump rolled out a tweetstorm Tuesday morning covering immigration, the NFL, taxes, health care, and ESPN's Jemele Hill. In his continued frustration with NFL players who kneel during the national anthem, Trump called for a change to tax law: "Why is the NFL getting massive tax breaks while at the same time disrespecting our Anthem, Flag and Country? Change tax law!"
Background: The NFL gave up its tax exempt status in 2015, but some Republican lawmakers in recent weeks have been toying with the idea of taking away NFL tax breaks.
