Sen. Elizabeth Warren says she wants North Korea talks to work, but questions Trump strategy
Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts says that while she wants the proposed summit between the United States and North Korea to "work," she questions the Trump administration's strategy -- or lack thereof -- in getting to the talks.
"I want this to work to reduce the threat to South Korea, to Japan, to our allies in the region, to the United States of America, to the entire world, but it really takes a strategy," Warren told "CBS This Morning" on Tuesday.
Criticizing the administration's lack of foreign policy expertise, she said, "What it takes for a strategy is you really have a goal, you build up the team to work on that goal. Diplomacy is a long and difficult task and it takes people who know what they're doing."
Her comments come as the administration appears to be once again aiming for June 12 talks in Singapore with North Korea, less than a week after President Trump effectively canceled the summit in a letter to leader Kim Jong Un. On Tuesday, Mr. Trump tweeted that the Vice Chairman of North Korea, Kim Young Chol, was en route to New York to continue planning work on the summit.
Warren compared the U.S. strategy in the Korean Peninsula to that of China. "China's got the long-term arc and it's playing everybody, it's playing North Korea, it's playing South Korea, it's playing the United States of America. because it has a longtime whole-of-government strategy that keeps driving toward an end."
By contrast, she said, "At this point, who knows what's coming out of Washington."
Warren told CBS News that while she wants to see the North Koreans give up their nuclear capabilities and hopes President Trump could deliver on that, "there's a long space between here and there and it takes a coherent and executed strategy to get there."
Meanwhile, Warren, whose latest book, "This Fight is Our Fight," hits bookstores today, says that women in politics are "coming into their own" and "using their voices." Warren said in the era of Trump, "democracy itself is rewiring so that people are coming off the sidelines" and running for office.
"People are stepping up to run for office who have never run for office before," said Warren of the future of the Democratic party."They're in the game and I love it."
But is Warren eyeing a possible 2020 run for president herself? "No, no no" she replied.