Reminder: Loose lips sink ships.
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Reminder: Loose lips sink ships.
President Trump disclosed to Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte that the United States had two nuclear submarines near North Korea in a leaked transcript of an April 29 phone call between the two world leaders.
Trump and Duterte discussed North Korea’s Kim Jong Un and his nuclear ambitions. After noting that China will play a role in reining in the North Korean leader, Trump told Duterte, “We have a lot of firepower over there. We have two submarines — the best in the world — we have two nuclear submarines, not that we want to use them all.”
He continued, “I’ve never seen anything like they are, but we don’t have to use this. But he could be crazy, so we will see what happens.”
As a rule, military officials don’t disclose the locations of their submarines.
Three Pentagon officials told Buzzfeed, “We never talk about subs!”
The Washington Post and the Intercept have confirmed the veracity of the transcript.
The White House readout of the call described the call as a “very friendly conversation.”
During that same call, Trump praised Duterte for his controversial drug war, which has left thousands of people dead.
“I just wanted to congratulate you because I am hearing you are doing an unbelievable job on the drug problem, ” Trump told Duterte, according to the transcript. “Many countries have the problem, we have a problem, but what a great job you are doing and I just wanted to call and tell you that.”
