Obama on Trump with nukes: ‘Make your own judgment’

President Obama on Thursday advised Americans to “just listen” to what Donald Trump has to say and make their own judgment on whether he can be trusted with America’s nuclear weapons.  

“I would ask all of you to just make your own judgment,” Obama said Thursday during a press briefing, after being asked whether Donald Trump could be trusted with the country’s nuclear arsenal. 

{mosads}”Just listen to what Mr. Trump has to say and make your own judgment with respect to how confident you feel about his ability to manage things like our nuclear triad,” he said at the briefing, which was hosted at the Pentagon. 

Earlier this week, questions over the Republican presidential nominee’s judgment on nuclear weapons arose after MSNBC host Joe Scarborough said Trump had asked a foreign policy adviser three times why the U.S. could not use them.  

Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks told The Hill, “There is no truth to this.” 

However, Trump has made controversial statements on nukes in the past, such as suggesting the U.S. allow allies Japan, South Korea and Saudi Arabia to develop them, which could fuel a new nuclear arms race. 

He has also not ruled out using a nuclear weapon in Europe or the Middle East against ISIS. He also appeared to not know what the “nuclear triad” was during a Republican presidential debate. 

The nuclear triad refers to the three components of the U.S.’s strategic nuclear arsenal: strategic bombers, intercontinental ballistic missiles and submarine-launched ballistic missiles — or delivery by air, land and sea. 

Obama said he “obviously” had a very strong opinion about the two candidates, but added, “This is serious business.”

“The person who is in the Oval Office and who our secretary of Defense and who our Joint Chiefs of Staff and our outstanding men and women in uniform report to, they are counting on somebody who has the temperament and good judgment to be able to make decisions to keep America safe,” he said. 

“And that should be very much on the minds of voters when they go into the voting booth in November,” he added.