President Trump and Japan’s Abe meet

President Trump said today that Iran is acting a lot differently after he withdrew from the nuclear deal – suggesting they’ve curtailed some of their destabilizing actions in the region. He did not offer evidence to support his claim.

“Iran is acting a lot differently,” he said. “They’re no longer looking so much to the Mediterranean. They’re no longer looking so much to what’s going on in Syria, what’s going on in Yemen, and lots of other places. They’re a much different country over the last three months. And again, I say that with hope that maybe something can happen.”

Later, he suggested he’d be open to beginning with Iran the type of talks he’s starting with North Korea.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said President Trump has been receiving daily briefings for months on North Korea, ahead of next’s week historic summit in Singapore.

“So over months and months, days and days, President Trump has been receiving briefings on this issue about the military aspects, commercial, economic aspects of it, the history of the relationship and in the past few months near daily briefings including today where we have been providing the president all of the information that he needs,” Pompeo said.

But Trump said this: Earlier, in a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Trump said he didn’t believe much advance work was necessary before the summit.

“I don’t think I have to prepare very much,” Trump said. “This isn’t a question of preparation. It’s a question of whether or not people want it to happen, and we’ll know that very quickly.”

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo shrugged off comments made by President Trump’s top Russia lawyer Rudy Giuliani, saying the former mayor doesn’t speak for the administration.

“I know Rudy. Rudy doesn’t speak for the administration when it comes to this negotiation and this set of issues,” Pompeo said when asked about Giuliani’s comments by CNN’s Pamela Brown.

Giuliani told a conference in Israel that Kim “got back on his hands and knees and begged for” the summit.

Pompeo also suggested Giuliani was making a joke.

“I took him as being in a small room and not being serious about the comments,” Pompeo said during a briefing at the White House. “I think it was a bit in jest. We are focused on the important things.”

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Thursday that North Korea has committed to denuclearization ahead of President Trump’s summit with Kim Jong Un.

But pressed whether the two sides have come closer together on the definition of denuclearization, Pompeo would only say: “yes.”

Pompeo said he would travel to meet with his Japanese and South Korean counterparts following the meeting.

He also said he would travel to Beijing after the summit to continue discussions about North Korea’s nuclear program.

Ivanka Trump, a senior adviser to the President and one of his daughters, will not travel to Singapore with the US delegation for President Trump’s meeting with Kim Jong Un, a White House official says.

Ivanka Trump led the US delegation to the Olympics closing ceremonies earlier this year and personally briefed South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in on sanctions to North Korea.

President Trump took a moment during the news conference to pay respect to American college student Otto Warmbier, who died after he returned to the US following 17 months of detention in North Korea. 

“I’d like to just close by paying my highest respect and regards and love frankly, I got to know him well to the family of Otto’s family,” Trump said.

President Trump said he is willing to invite North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to the US if the talks go well next week.

However, he added that he is ready to abandon the meeting at any point.

“All I can say is I’m totally prepared to walk away. I did it once before. You have to be able to walk away,” Trump said.

President Trump said there is one way to tell if his negotiations with Kim Jong Un go well: if he uses the words “maximum pressure” after his summit has wrapped.

“Maximum pressure is absolutely in effect. We don’t use the term anymore because we are going into a friendly negotiation,” he said.

“Perhaps after that negotiation I will be using it again. You’ll know how well we do with the negotiation – If you hear me saying we are going to use maximum pressure, you know the negotiation did not do well, frankly.”

President Trump said normalizing relations with North Korea is “something I would hope to do … when everything is complete.”

Though he acknowledged, “We are very far away.”

“We would like to see normalization, yes,” he added.

President Trump said Kim Jong Un’s letter, which was hand delivered last week to the White House, was “warm” and “nice.”