(CNN) President Donald Trump's reasoning for the United States stopping war games on the Korean Peninsula because of cost is "ridiculous," Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham said Tuesday night.

"It is ridiculous," Graham told CNN's Anderson Cooper.

Graham continued by saying he did support stopping the drills, but in order "to give North Korea some breathing space to see if we can get a deal," noting that "the money we spend training with our allies is money well spent."

"It's not a burden onto the American taxpayer to have a forward deployed force in South Korea. It brings stability. It's a warning to China that you can't just take over the whole region. So I reject that analysis that it costs too much, but I do accept the proposition, let's stand down and see if we can find a better way here," the South Carolina lawmaker said on "Anderson Cooper 360."

Trump announced on Tuesday the US would no longer take part in joint military exercises between the US and South Korea. The news came as he was detailing his historic sit-down with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

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