ABC News(NEW YORK) — Donald Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway said Tuesday morning that while the president-elect is putting North Korea “on notice,” he’s also “not making policy at the moment” regarding his tweet that North Korea will not be able to develop a nuclear weapon capable of reaching the United States.
Trump’s tweet referred to the annual New Year’s address given by North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong Un, in which he said that his country is in the “final stages” of preparing an intercontinental ballistic missile, which can deliver a nuclear weapon.
North Korea has conducted several medium and long-range missile tests, and has been rebuked in the past by U.S. leaders for its nuclear ambitions.
The UN Security Council has passed a series of resolutions aimed at curtailing North Korea’s nuclear program since the country conducted its first test in 2006, including sanctions, which have been strengthened in recent years.
Conway categorized Trump’s remarks about North Korea as a warning to North Korea against pursuing such ambitions, which she said “could be deployed to reach Seattle almost immediately,” according to experts who she did not name.
“The president of the United States will stand between them and missile capabilities,” Conway said of North Korea.
Conway also sought to clarify other remarks made by Trump over the holiday weekend, in which he expressed continued skepticism over whether Russia was responsible for computer hacks of Democratic party officials.
Trump cautioned against being quick to place judgment on Russia for hacking U.S. emails in a conversation he had with reporters while entering a New Year’s Eve celebration at his Mar-a-Lago estate on Saturday evening.
“I just want them to be sure, because it’s a pretty serious charge,” he said, he said of American intelligence agencies. “If you look at the weapons of mass destruction, that was a disaster, and they were wrong.”
Trump went on to say that the hacking could be done by a country or organization other than Russia.
“I also know things that other people don’t know,” he added.
Conway suggested on GMA that Trump was referring to briefings he received from top intelligence officials.
“Presidents and President-Elects have to know things that you and I don’t know–I hope they do,” Conway said, without specifying what kind of information Trump might have. “He’s privy to intelligence briefings of all sorts.”
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