US President Donald Trump waves a Vietnamese flag as he is greeted by students during a meeting with Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc in Hanoi. Photo: Reuters
US President Donald Trump in a Twitter blitz hours before his highly anticipated talks with Kim Jong-un sought to sweet talk the North Korean leader into giving up Pyongyang’s nuclear arsenal while also taking aim at critics who say the summit is political theatre aimed at distracting Americans from his domestic woes.
The irascible leader reserved choice words for top domestic opponents – including his one-time fixer Michael Cohen, who is expected to testify against him before Congress at the same time as the summit.
And amid speculation that Trump will go soft on Kim, the US leader in a tweet two hours before the talks were to begin wrote that there was “false reporting” about his intentions going into the meeting.
“Kim Jong-un and I will try very hard to work something out on denuclearisation and then making North Korea an economic powerhouse,” the president wrote.
“I believe that China, Russia, Japan and South Korea will be very helpful.”
Trump, tweeting from the JW Marriott Hotel in Hanoi where he is staying for the two-day talks with Kim starting this evening, said North Korea could become like Vietnam – also communist-ruled – if it decided to denuclearise.
“Vietnam is thriving like few places on earth. North Korea would be the same, and very quickly, if it would denuclearise,” he wrote. “The potential is awesome, a great opportunity, like none other in history, for my friend Kim Jong-un. We will know fairly soon – very interesting!”
It was one of several tweets by Trump from Hanoi, the host city of the second round of his nuclear talks with Kim. Upon his arrival, Trump hailed the “great reception” and “tremendous crowds, and so much love”.
The American leader has sought to offer incentives over punitive measures dealing with the young North Korean leader in recent weeks, departing from the vitriol he hurled at Pyongyang in the early days of his presidency.
In the afternoon, Trump again took to Twitter, this time to lambast Richard Blumenthal, the Democratic Party senator who is one of his most strident domestic critics. The two clashed last year over the senator’s record as a Marine Corps reservist during the Vietnam war.
“I have now spent more time in Vietnam than Da Nang Dick Blumenthal, the third rate Senator from Connecticut,” Trump wrote.
“His war stories of his heroism in Vietnam were a total fraud – he was never even there. We talked about it today with Vietnamese leaders!”
On Cohen, Trump described his one-time aide as “one of many lawyers who represented me”.
The disgraced lawyer, convicted last year for campaign financing infringements, is scheduled to testify before Congress later on Wednesday – around the same time as Trump’s meeting with Kim – on the links between the US leader’s 2016 election campaign and Russia.
Text of Cohen’s planned statement showed he will call Trump a “racist”, a “con man” and a “cheat”.
Trump in his tweet about Cohen said the debarred lawyer was “lying in order to reduce his prison time”.
He said Cohen was using “Crooked’s lawyer”, referencing his infamous nickname for arch political rival Hillary Clinton.
Trump and Kim are scheduled to meet at 6.30pm local time (7.30pm HKT) at the Sofitel Legend Metropole Hotel. They will have a brief one-on-one meeting before joining top aides for dinner.
More at https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/2187846/donald-trump-hails-north-koreas-awesome-potential-if-only-my
Trump is as clean as a newborn's ass okay? IN TRUMP WE TRUST!!!!!!!
Think Trump was too distracted by Michael Cohen giving testimony in Congress, must rush back home to do damage control.
How much did their holiday cost this time?
As expected, hot air only. Money wasted on these two useless fatties just to vacation in Vietnam.
Vietnam summit: US president blames disagreement over sanctions for no deal
Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Vietnam, where hopes of a nuclear breakthrough remain elusive. Photograph: Evan Vucci/AP
Donald Trump has said that a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un broke down over the issue of sanctions, after the talks in Vietnam ended early with no deal.
“It was about the sanctions basically,” Trump said at a press conference in Hanoi. “They wanted the sanctions lifted in their entirety and we couldn’t do that ... Sometimes you have to walk, and this was just one of those times.”
The US president said that Kim had offered to dismantle some parts of his nuclear infrastructure, including the Yongbyon nuclear complex, but was not prepared to destroy other parts of the programme, including covert uranium plants.
“There is a gap. We have to have sanctions,” Trump said. “They were willing to denuke a large portion of the areas we wanted but we couldn’t give up all the sanctions for that.”
Trump said there was no plan for a third summit but made clear that the current status quo would continue, with North Korea continuing to suspend nuclear and missile tests, while the US would not take part in joint military exercises with South Korea, which the US president said he was opposed to anyway.
“I gave that up quite a while ago because it costs us $100 million to do it. I hated to see it. I thought it was unfair,” Trump said, saying South Korea should shoulder more of the costs. “Exercising is fun and it’s nice they play their war games. I’m not saying its not necessary. On some levels it is. On other levels it’s not.”
Although he said another summit with Kim might not happen “for a long time”, Trump remained defensive of the North Korean leader and the relationship between the two men.
“We spent all day with Kim Jong-un,” Trump said. “He’s quite a guy and quite a character. And our relationship is very strong.”
He even defended Kim over the death of US student Otto Warmbier, who had been sent back home from North Korea seriously ill in June 2017.
“He says he didn’t know about it and I will take him at his word,” Trump said, adding that North Korea was a big country and: “Those prisons are rough. They’re rough places and bad things happen.”
Trump gave a detailed public account to date of the central disagreements that have dogged the negotiations. He confirmed that the US side had confronted the North Koreans with the existence of covert nuclear facilities outside Yongbyon and demanded they be put on the negotiating table.
“They were surprised we knew,” he said.
The US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, said that the breakdown of talks was partly caused by differences over the sequences of nuclear disarmament and sanctions relief.
The press conference came after a scheduled lunch and signing ceremony for the expected joint statement were both cancelled at short notice, as Trump and Kim left the summit venue and returned to their separate Hanoi hotels.
“The two leaders discussed various ways to advance denuclearization and economic-driven concepts,” Sarah Sanders, the White House spokeswoman, said in a written statement. “No agreement was reached at this time, but their respective teams look forward to meeting in the future.”
A Trump media conference was brought forward two hours, and journalists accompanying the US president were told to get ready to board Air Force One for the flight back to Washington.
Signs of trouble at the second Trump-Kim summit appeared earlier on Thursday when Trump played down expectations of any kind of agreement in the Vietnam capital and urged the focus to be on longer term relations between the two leaders and the two countries.
The demeanour of both leaders as they sat in Hanoi’s Metropole Hotel was largely sombre even though both professed to hopeful about future ties.
“I’m sure over the years we’ll be together a lot, and I think we’ll also be together after the fact, meaning after the deal is made. We had very good discussions last night at dinner, and the pre-dinner was very good. And, there were a lot of great ideas being thrown about,” Trump said.
More at https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/feb/28/vietnam-summittrump-and-kim-play-down-hopes-of-quick-results-nuclear-talks
Vietnam summit: US president blames disagreement over sanctions for no deal
Donald Trump says North Korea wanted all sanctions lifted in return for partial denuclearisation
Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Vietnam, where hopes of a nuclear breakthrough remain elusive. Photograph: Evan Vucci/AP
Donald Trump has said that a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un broke down over the issue of sanctions, after the talks in Vietnam ended early with no deal.
“It was about the sanctions basically,” Trump said at a press conference in Hanoi. “They wanted the sanctions lifted in their entirety and we couldn’t do that ... Sometimes you have to walk, and this was just one of those times.”
The US president said that Kim had offered to dismantle some parts of his nuclear infrastructure, including the Yongbyon nuclear complex, but was not prepared to destroy other parts of the programme, including covert uranium plants.
“There is a gap. We have to have sanctions,” Trump said. “They were willing to denuke a large portion of the areas we wanted but we couldn’t give up all the sanctions for that.”
Trump said there was no plan for a third summit but made clear that the current status quo would continue, with North Korea continuing to suspend nuclear and missile tests, while the US would not take part in joint military exercises with South Korea, which the US president said he was opposed to anyway.
“I gave that up quite a while ago because it costs us $100 million to do it. I hated to see it. I thought it was unfair,” Trump said, saying South Korea should shoulder more of the costs. “Exercising is fun and it’s nice they play their war games. I’m not saying its not necessary. On some levels it is. On other levels it’s not.”
Although he said another summit with Kim might not happen “for a long time”, Trump remained defensive of the North Korean leader and the relationship between the two men.
“We spent all day with Kim Jong-un,” Trump said. “He’s quite a guy and quite a character. And our relationship is very strong.”
He even defended Kim over the death of US student Otto Warmbier, who had been sent back home from North Korea seriously ill in June 2017.
“He says he didn’t know about it and I will take him at his word,” Trump said, adding that North Korea was a big country and: “Those prisons are rough. They’re rough places and bad things happen.”
Trump gave a detailed public account to date of the central disagreements that have dogged the negotiations. He confirmed that the US side had confronted the North Koreans with the existence of covert nuclear facilities outside Yongbyon and demanded they be put on the negotiating table.
“They were surprised we knew,” he said.
The US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, said that the breakdown of talks was partly caused by differences over the sequences of nuclear disarmament and sanctions relief.
The press conference came after a scheduled lunch and signing ceremony for the expected joint statement were both cancelled at short notice, as Trump and Kim left the summit venue and returned to their separate Hanoi hotels.
“The two leaders discussed various ways to advance denuclearization and economic-driven concepts,” Sarah Sanders, the White House spokeswoman, said in a written statement. “No agreement was reached at this time, but their respective teams look forward to meeting in the future.”
A Trump media conference was brought forward two hours, and journalists accompanying the US president were told to get ready to board Air Force One for the flight back to Washington.
Signs of trouble at the second Trump-Kim summit appeared earlier on Thursday when Trump played down expectations of any kind of agreement in the Vietnam capital and urged the focus to be on longer term relations between the two leaders and the two countries.
The demeanour of both leaders as they sat in Hanoi’s Metropole Hotel was largely sombre even though both professed to hopeful about future ties.
“I’m sure over the years we’ll be together a lot, and I think we’ll also be together after the fact, meaning after the deal is made. We had very good discussions last night at dinner, and the pre-dinner was very good. And, there were a lot of great ideas being thrown about,” Trump said.
More at https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/feb/28/vietnam-summittrump-and-kim-play-down-hopes-of-quick-results-nuclear-talks
TRUMP'S DA MAN! He sure knows how to twist the knife and make wounds bleed even more! ;)
Wah Kim bui bui still uses matches to light his cigarette!