Story highlights Trump said this week he'd be "honored" to meet with the North Korean leader

Trump also recently invited Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte to the White House

Washington (CNN) Sens. Lindsey Graham and John McCain on Tuesday criticized President Donald Trump's willingness to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte.

"I'd find it very hard for me to sit down across the table from a guy who makes Bashar Assad look like a choir boy," Graham, a South Carolina Republican, told CNN's Kate Bolduan in reference to the North Korean leader. "If you understand what he (Kim) does to his own people, you'd be repugnant to be in the room with him."

McCain, a Republican from Arizona, told CNN's Suzanne Malveaux the President's comments were "the wrong thing to say."

"It gives some prestige to Kim Jung Un with his own people and in the world, his standing in the world, and obviously he is one of the most dishonorable people on Earth," he said. "The last remaining huge gulag in the world today resides in North Korea. So, I think it's a very unfortunate choice of words."

Graham and McCain's remarks come one day after Trump told Bloomberg News he would be "honored" to meet with Kim "under the right circumstances." White House press secretary Sean Spicer clarified the sit-down wouldn't happen until "their provocative behavior ratcheted down immediately."

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