Graham on canceled summit: Trump thought North Korea was ‘playing him’

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) says President Trump believed that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was “playing him” ahead of a planned summit between the two leaders, leading to his canceling the meeting. 

“I talked to the president yesterday. He said he thought they were playing him,” Graham said on NBC’s “Today” show.

See the full interview with @LindseyGrahamSC about U.S. relations with North Korea pic.twitter.com/LPbigf5Mir

— TODAY (@TODAYshow) May 25, 2018

{mosads}In a letter to Kim from the White House on Thursday, Trump canceled the meeting, saying it would be “inappropriate” at this time given the regime’s public resistance to denuclearization, a stated goal of Trump’s for the summit. 

NBC News reported that Trump made the decision in part because he worried that North Korea would cancel the summit and he wanted to do it first.

Graham said he remained sure that Trump would achieve peace with North Korea in his first term in office.

“It could be the worst divorce in the history of the world or we could all get back together,” Graham joked. 

“The only question is how and when. The preferred route is through peace, a peace treaty, a win-win for them and us,” he said. 

A top North Korean foreign affairs official said Friday that the country remains open to “sit down at any time” with the United States.