Mattis calls report Trump wanted to expand US nuclear arsenal ‘absolutely false’

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis on Wednesday denied reports President Donald Trump wanted to increase the US nuclear-weapons stockpile tenfold.

“Recent reports that the president called for an increase in the US nuclear arsenal are absolutely false,” Mattis said in a statement. “This kind of erroneous reporting is irresponsible.”

According to an NBC News report published early on Wednesday, Trump expressed dismay at the state of the US nuclear arsenal in a July 20 meeting after seeing a chart showing the decline of the stockpile since the 1960s.

Trump reportedly said he didn’t want to be at the bottom position on the chart’s downward-sloping curve and called for a tenfold increase.

 

Read the whole story from Business Insider. 

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