REPORT: Trump Apparently Didn’t Know About Nuclear Arms Treaty, Still Told Putin It Was Bad

According to a report by Reuters, during a phone call between Russian President Vladimir Putin and President Donald Trump, POTUS allegedly slammed the current nuclear arms treaty between the two nations as a “bad deal,” even though it appears he wasn’t knowledgeable about the details of it.

Per U.S. officials with knowledge of the call, after Putin brought up New START and possibly extending it, the president paused the call so he could ask his aides about what it was before proceeding to slam it, lumping it in with other “bad deals” that President Barack Obama had negotiated. (It was also reported that during the January 28th call the the president bragged about his personal popularity in America.)

The treaty, which was signed in 2010, gives both countries until February 2018 to reduce the number of strategic nuclear warheads deployed down to 1,550. It also places a limit on the number of submarine and bomber-based warheads each country can deploy.

Trump has reportedly had several contentious and combative phone calls with world leaders in the early days of his presidency. In a call with Australia’s prime minister, POTUS angrily denounced a refugee agreement between the two countries while boasting about the size of his Electoral College victory. Meanwhile, while speaking to the Mexican president, Trump apparently told him he had some “bad hombres” down there and that he may need to send the military to the border.

[image via screengrab]

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Follow Justin Baragona on Twitter: @justinbaragona

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