President Donald Trump is "keeping all options on the table" regarding North Korea after its most recent missile test, and he will sign the Russia sanctions bill after a regulatory review, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Tuesday.
"The president obviously has been very outspoken about how he feels about North Korea," she said at the daily briefing with reporters. "We're weighing all options, keeping all options on the table — and, as we've said many times before, we're not going to broadcast what we're going to do."
Sen. Lindsey Graham said Tuesday that war with Pyongyang was "inevitable" if it continued its missile program, after testing an ICBM last Friday that experts said could reach Los Angeles.
"You're making the president pick between regional stability and homeland stability," the South Carolina Republican, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, told "Today" on NBC.
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"They've kicked the can down the road for 20 years," he added. "There will be a war with North Korea over the missile program if they continue to try to hit America with an ICBM."
When asked whether Graham's option of destroying North Korea was being considered by Trump, Sanders responded: "That's not what I'm saying.
"What I'm saying is the president has been very outspoken about the need to stop North Korea.
"We've been focused on stopping the nuclear program, stopping the missiles, stopping the aggression.
"That still continues to be the focus — and we're keeping all options on the table in order to do that.
"We're not going to broadcast movements on things like that before they take place," she said.
She also declined to say whether the administration would increase pressure on China — only that "we're going to continue to work with our allies, continue to work with our partners — and that Pyongyang must decide whether it is an adversary of the United States.
"In some ways, they get to decide by the actions that they take," Sanders told reporters. "If they want to stop their nuclear program, stop the games, stop the missiles, stop the aggression, we may be able to find ways to move forward.
"But those are the priorities of this administration."
Regarding the sanctions bill — passed by the Senate last week and slapping tough economic penalties on Moscow, Pyongyang and Iran — Sanders reiterated that Trump would sign it after it undergoes regulatory review.
Vice President Mike Pence said Tuesday in Mocow that Trump would sign the bill soon.
"There's nothing holding him back," she said. "There's a review process, a legal process.
"They're going through that and he'll sign the bill."
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