Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ defense of the president came on the same day that unflattering excerpts of a forthcoming book about the Trump administration were published. | Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP White House: Americans should worry about Kim Jong Un's mental state, not Trump's

With President Donald Trump once again rattling nuclear sabers with North Korea, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Wednesday that Americans should be concerned with the mental state of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, not that of their own president.

Sanders’ defense of the president came on the same day that excerpts of a forthcoming book about the Trump administration were published, including scathing characterizations of the president from those closest to him as ignorant, insecure and unprepared.


“I think the president and the people of this country should be concerned about the mental fitness of the leader of North Korea. He's made repeated threats. He’s tested missiles, time and time again, for years,” Sanders said at Wednesday’s press briefing.

“This is a president who’s not going to cower down and who’s not going to be weak and is going to make sure that he does what he's promised to do and that's stand up and protect the American people," she said of Trump.

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Trump’s most recent bout of nuclear brinkmanship began earlier this week, when Kim said in his New Year’s address that “the nuclear button is always on the desk of my office.” The U.S. president responded via Twitter Tuesday night, chiding Kim that “I too have a Nuclear Button, but it is a much bigger & more powerful one than his, and my Button works!”

Pressed by reporters as to why the president would taunt someone the White House considers to be mentally unstable, Sanders replied, “I don't think that it's taunting to stand up for the people of this country.” She also blamed Trump’s predecessors for not addressing North Korea’s nuclear ambitions when they had the chance.

Asked why he said he had a larger nuclear button — the U.S. process is more complicated than simply pressing a button — Sanders replied, “I think it's just a fact.”

