Trump Slammed Nuclear Arms Treaty In Call With Putin Without Knowing The Details

Reuters is reporting that during Donald Trump’s first phone call with Russian leader Vladamir Putin he spent time trashing the Obama-era New Start Treaty.

During the call, Putin brought up the possibility of extending the nuclear arms reduction agreement. According to the sources, Trump needed to pause the call to ask his aides what the treaty was.

According to the report, “Trump then told Putin the treaty was one of several bad deals negotiated by the Obama administration, saying that New START favored Russia. Trump also talked about his own popularity, the sources said.”

The New START agreement gives the U.S. and Russia until February 2018 to reduce their deployed strategic nuclear warheads to no more than 1,550 which would be the lowest level in decades.

And it limits deployed land- and submarine-based missiles and nuclear-capable bombers.

Trump consistently unprepared for calls with world leaders

The Reuters report on the Russian call is just the latest in a series of first calls with world leaders where Donald Trump has been unprepared and created diplomatic problems as a result.
Also read: TRUMP BOTCHES ANOTHER CALL WITH WORLD LEADER, DEMANDS AMERICA’S NATO MONEY BACK FROM FRENCH PRESIDENT
The report notes that “the phone call with Putin has added to concerns that Trump is not adequately prepared for discussions with foreign leaders.”
It is typical that before a call with a world leader the president receives a series of briefings to prepare including from the State Department and the Nationals Security Council and “just before the call, the president also usually receives an oral ‘pre-briefing’ from his national security adviser and top subject-matter aide, they said.”
However, the report points out that “Trump did not receive a briefing from Russia experts with the NSC and intelligence agencies before the Putin call, two of the sources said.”