WATCH: “We’re on a collision course with North Korea.” @LindseyGrahamSC tells @savannahguthrie and @williegeist pic.twitter.com/wIPfsTaEKq
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) April 19, 2017
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) warned early Wednesday that the United States is on a “collision course” with North Korea over Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons program.
“I talked to [President Trump] … about this very topic,” Graham said in an interview on NBC’s “Today.” “I said, ‘Do you want on your resume that during your presidency the North Koreans developed a missile that can hit the American homeland with a nuclear weapon on top of it?’
“And he said ‘absolutely not,'” Graham added.
{mosads}The South Carolina Republican said that U.S. should pressure China to assist with North Korea but maintained that the Trump administration should be prepared to act on its own, including launching a preemptive military strike if necessary.
Graham said that he advised the president to “tell China that if you don’t take care of it, we will.”
“It means that if China can’t stop the regime from building a missile that can one day hit the American homeland that we would do everything, including diplomatic sanctions and military strike, to stop the missile program,” he said.
“Do you really want North Korea to have a missile that can hit California with a nuclear weapon? … Now is the time to stop.”
North Korea conducted yet another missile test over the weekend, despite pressure from the international community. The missile, however, exploded seconds after launch.