Sens. Orrin Hatch and Rob Portman walk from an all-Senators briefing on North Korea in the White House complex on April 26. | AP Photo Senators hauled to White House for rare classified briefing President Donald Trump spoke briefly at the all-senators session.

Senators were alarmed by a Trump administration presentation Wednesday at the White House complex about the dangers of North Korea, though lawmakers in both parties said it was unclear what the president’s next action against the combative nation will be.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Defense Secretary James Mattis, who led the session, did not divulge whether the United States is considering military options against North Korea after recent weapons tests and military activities were conducted by the regime of Kim Jong Un. And senators said officials did not discuss putting North Korea back on the list of nations that sponsor terrorism, as some lawmakers want.


“There’s so many options that we need to be taking that are a long ways away from a strike,” said Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.), who is urging the administration to sanction Chinese officials that do business with North Korea. “I have supported putting North Korea back as a state sponsor of terror … no indication yet from the administration.”

President Donald Trump spoke for a few minutes at the classified briefing, according to senators and aides. His comments, said an attendee, were “long at the 30,000 foot, short on the specifics.” Though the session was classified, everything said was already public, the person said.

“It’s a very serious situation. As I knew before I went there,” said Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee. “I knew all about it. I didn’t hear anything new because I have been heavily briefed.”

Added Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker (R-Tenn.): “It’s good to get everyone together. I’m not sure I would have had it ... I knew what was discussed.”

The administration briefed House members afterward at the Capitol. No explicit explanation was given for why all 100 senators were hauled to the White House, though Trump's appearance was likely part of the reason. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) accepted an invitation from Trump to move the briefing from the Senate, where such briefings are typically held, to the White House, according to spokesmen for McConnell and the administration.

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"This is the first time I remember anything like this. In my congressional career there's never been a similar type of a meeting held at the White House that I'm aware of," said Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) ahead of the meeting. "We've had all-member meetings at the White House, but I don't think they've ever been in a classified setting. They might have been in a sensitive setting."

Joseph Dunford, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, a former GOP senator, also briefed senators.

The White House said the meeting was intended to sound the alarm for senators about a situation that's grown increasingly fraught in recent months. The meeting provided an opportunity “to communicate the seriousness of the threat from North Korea,” a senior administration official told reporters. It also allowed the senators to learn about responses the U.S. is considering to the “very grave threat” from a “brutal regime," the official said.

The recent murder of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s half-brother in Malaysia with a chemical agent, and the secretive state’s advancing nuclear capabilities, have combined to put the administration on alert, the official said.

“We’re looking at a broad range of options obviously across all elements of national power and multi-national power in connection with North Korea,” the official said. “What you’ll see soon is using the economic dimension of national power, as well as the military preparations that are underway.”

Afterward, Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said “of course” he was more concerned about North Korea after the briefing, while Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) said he “learned some things” at the meeting.

“It was a sobering briefing and an important opportunity for the entire Senate to hear the emerging plans of the Trump administration to confront what is a very real threat to our security,” Coons said. “This is a very difficult situation that I think is going to require persistent and engaged application of both diplomatic and military resources.”

Austin Wright contributed to this report.