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President Donald Trump calls the summit’s cancellation a “tremendous setback” for North Korea and the world.
USA TODAY
Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell thinks President Trump’s decision on Thursday to pull out of a planned summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was “exactly the right thing” to do.Â
McConnell, speaking with Fox News’ Bret Baier, pointed to the history of tensions between North Korea and the U.S. and repeated attempts at failed resolutions.Â
“You know, we’ve seen three generations of North Korean leaders engage in similar ploys in order to get relief from sanctions,” he said. “It seems that the — Kim Jong-un is a chip off the old block and I think the president didn’t want to be played with.”
He said Trump “wanted to make sure that North Koreans understood he was serious, willing to engage, provided they didn’t continue to play these kinds of games as they’ve historically done with other administrations and gotten away with it.”
The hope, McConnell said, is that talks get “back on track” but the next steps, it appears, are up to North Korea.Â
More: Trump cancels meeting with North Korea, citing ‘tremendous anger and open hostility’
Analysis: Trump’s tactics both catalyst and drag on North Korea talks
More: Lawmakers get first look at secret Russia inquiry documents during Justice meeting
The Kentucky Republican was also asked about two classified briefings Thursday on an FBI informant’s role in the investigation into suspected Russian interference in the 2016 election. He told Fox News he didn’t learn anything “particularly surprising.”Â
Lawmakers, notably McConnell, have been under pressure to pass a series of funding bills before the August break. Earlier this month, Trump tweeted lawmakers should “not go home” if the bills aren’t taken care of.Â
McConnell told Fox News he was still mulling whether he would force senators to stay but added, “I wouldn’t buy any non-refundable tickets.”
He said he couldn’t “afford” to spend more time debating immigration funding in the Senate and said if the House passes a bill that Trump indicates he’d sign, “then I’d give it serious consideration.”Â
Follow Christal Hayes on Twitter: Journo_Christal
A woman dressed in a traditional gown pays her respects at statues of late North Korean leaders, Kim Il Sung, left, and Kim Jong Il, in Pyongyang, North Korea, Thursday, Feb. 16, 2017. Unaware of reports his eldest son – and current leader Kim Jong UnÂ’s half-brother – was killed just days ago in what appears to have been a carefully planned assassination, North Koreans marked the birthday of late leader Kim Jong Il on Thursday as they do every year.Â
Azalea, whose Korean name is “Dalle”, a 19-year-old female chimpanzee, smokes a cigarette at the Central Zoo in Pyongyang, North Korea Oct. 19, 2016. According to officials at the newly renovated zoo, which has become a favorite leisure spot in the North Korean capital since it was re-opened in July, the chimpanzee smokes about a pack a day. They insist, however, that she does not inhale.Â
A picture released by the Rodong Sinmun, the newspaper of the ruling North Korean Workers Party, on Sept. 8, 2015, shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, center front, and Miguel Diaz-Canel Bermudez, second from right, a member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba and first vice-president of the Council of State, watching an art performance by the Moranbong Band and the State Merited Chorus in Pyongyang, North Korea, on Sept. 7, 2015. Bermudez led a Cuban delegation to North Korea to mark the 55th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between North Korea and Cuba. Â
Men and women pump their fists in the air and chant “defend!” as they carry propaganda slogans calling for reunification of their country during the “Pyongyang Mass Rally on the Day of the Struggle Against the U.S.,” attended by approximately 100,000 North Koreans to mark the 65th anniversary of the outbreak of the Korean War at the Kim Il Sung stadium, Thursday, June 25, 2015, in Pyongyang, North Korea. The month of June in North Korea is known as the “Struggle Against U.S. Imperialism Month” and it’s a time for North Koreans to swarm to war museums, mobilize for gatherings denouncing the evils of the United States and join in a general, nationwide whipping up of the anti-American sentiment.Â
North Koreans gather in front of a portrait of their late leader Kim Il Sung, left, and Kim Jong Il, right, paying respects to their late leader Kim Jong Il, to mark the third anniversary of his death, Wednesday Dec. 17 at Pyong Chon District in Pyongyang, North Korea. North Korea marked the end of a three-year mourning period for the late leader Kim Jong Il on Wednesday, opening the way for his son, Kim Jong Un, to put a more personal stamp on the way the country is run. Â
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