Duckworth on Trump axing N. Korea summit: Not ‘results of a skilled negotiator’

Following President Donald Trump’s cancelling the June 12 summit between Trump and North Korea leader Kim Jong Un, Sen. Tammy Duckworth D-Ill., a wounded Iraq war veteran said in a statement, “It’s alarming to see Donald Trump so quickly discard diplomacy and revert back to his prior reckless bluster.

“His administration’s erratic behavior, rhetorical missteps and strategic naiveté in recent weeks once again lay bare that the President’s self-proclaimed negotiation skills are just a mirage. The Trump Administration’s ‘negotiations’ with north Korea gifted the Kim regime greater leverage on the world stage while diminishing our own. These are not the results of a skilled negotiator. They leave us no closer to peaceful denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula and keep us on the brink of renewed conflict in north Korea, which would be catastrophic and put the lives of countless civilians and American servicemembers at risk. I implore those who remain serving in our career foreign service and national security ranks to do everything in their power to convince the President to re-engage in diplomacy while maintaining our firm alliances with South Korea and Japan.”