Earlier today, President-elect Donald Trump once again grabbed headlines via Twitter by tweeting out that the U.S. must “strengthen and expand its nuclear capability.” It was noted that Russian President Vladimir Putin also made similar comments about nuclear strength during a military defense meeting.

Appearing on MSNBC this afternoon, former US Ambassador to the UN Bill Richardson heavily criticized Trump’s approach to discussing nuclear armament. Asked by host Katy Tur if Trump’s comments were warranted, especially in light of Putin’s since they could be seen as a veiled threat to America, Richardson answered in the negative.

“No, they weren’t warranted,” the ex-New Mexico governor responded. “What we now have is foreign policy by tweet.”

Richardson also questioned whether this meant we were going to get back into a nuclear arms race and brought up the fact that the United States is bound by treaty to reduce the number of nuclear weapons.

He went on to bemoan the message Trump was sending to the international community when it comes to nuclear policy, specifically stating that we have to contain some countries while simultaneously calling on the US to expand its capability.

Watch the interview above, via MSNBC.

[image via screengrab]

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Follow Justin Baragona on Twitter: @justinbaragona

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