All 100 members of the U.S. Senate are scheduled to attend a briefing on the situation in North Korea this week, White House press secretary Sean Spicer confirmed Monday.
“The White House campus will play host to a briefing for all 100 U.S. senators on the subject,” Spicer said at the top of his daily briefing, referring to North Korea.
The briefers, he said, would be 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.
“This is a Senate briefing convened by the Majority Leader, not a White House briefing. We are just serving as the location,” Spicer added.
A spokesperson for Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) did not immediately respond to TPM’s request for information on who called for the briefing, and why.
Reuters reported earlier Monday that the briefing would take place at 3 p.m. ET Wednesday, and also that congressional aides were working with the White House to schedule a similar briefing for members of the House of Representatives.
And the Washington Post reported, according to an unnamed senior administration official, that the Senate briefing would take place at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. That is an unusual location for such briefings, which are typically held at secure locations on Capitol Hill.
On Monday, speaking on NBC’s “Today,” UN Ambassador Nikki Haley said “the United States is not looking for a fight with North Korea,” but would not rule out a military response to further North Korean missile or nuclear testing.
This post has been updated.
