Senators had one question remaining on Wednesday after visiting the White House for a briefing on the situation in North Korea: Why?
All 100 members of the U.S. Senate traveled to the White House by bus Wednesday afternoon to meet with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Defense Secretary James Mattis, Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford. That meeting didn’t seem to provide many answers on President Donald Trump’s policy on North Korea.
Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN), the chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said afterward only that “it was an OK briefing,” according to a report by CNN.
When I asked Chairman Corker if the North Korea briefing trip to the White House was worthwhile, he told me "I'm not sure"
— Niels Lesniewski (@nielslesniewski) April 26, 2017
CORKER on North Korea briefing at WH: "It was an OK briefing"
Q: What do you mean, you didn't really learn much?
CORKER: "I–it was OK…"
— Frank Thorp V (@frankthorp) April 26, 2017
Corker on briefing at WH: "I'm not sure I would have had it"
— Burgess Everett (@burgessev) April 26, 2017
And now, a Q&A w/ Sen. Corker on N. Korea briefing:
How was it? "Not sure I would have done it"
Why? "I don't know"
Too many ppl? "Nope"
— Matt Flegenheimer (@mattfleg) April 26, 2017
Per CNN, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) said he had been “heavily briefed before” and “didn’t hear anything new.”
And one unnamed Republican senator told the Washington Post that senators did not get “straight answers on what the policy is regarding North Korea” during the briefing.
“Several senators asked specifically, ‘What is the policy?’ and the briefers gave us very, very few details,” the senator said.
“There was very little, if anything new,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) told the Washington Post. “I remain mystified about why the entire Senate had to be taken over to the White House rather than conducting it here.”
Another senator leaves N. Korea briefing confused: "I’m still unclear what kind of briefing this was" — whether it was classified or not.
— Ed O'Keefe (@edatpost) April 26, 2017
“It’s not like we learned some earth-shaking thing that’s going to happen tomorrow," said the senator about the N. Korea briefing.
— Ed O'Keefe (@edatpost) April 26, 2017
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) said the briefing contained “no revelations.”
“I think the White House wanted to convey to the Congress that they’re serious about North Korea,” he told CNN’s Jim Sciutto.
The New York Times’ Jonathan Martin reported that one unnamed Democratic senator was less than impressed by Trump’s appearance at the briefing.
Dem senator says Trump briefly showed at NoKo briefing, did his "ridiculous adjective" bit.
"about 80 sets of invisible eyes rolling"
— Jonathan Martin (@jmartNYT) April 26, 2017
A few senators, however, appeared to find the briefing valuable.
On MSNBC, Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) called the briefing “clear-eyed, sober and serious.”
“I learned a few new things,” he said. “I won’t go into too much detail.”
On the other side of the aisle, Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY) called the meeting “very consequential” but did not offer any further insight into the Trump administration’s policy.
