Miles Taylor, a former Homeland Security official in President Donald Trump’s first administration, said that Trump had “fantasized” about nuclear bombs during his first term.
He told Newsweek on Friday that Trump had also told advisers “that he badly wanted to strike North Korea with a nuclear weapon.”
Taylor left the Trump administration in 2019 and revealed himself as the author of an anonymous 2018 New York Times piece that was sharply critical of Trump shortly before the 2020 election.
Asked for a response to Taylor's comments, White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson told Newsweek: “Miles Taylor is a hack who weaponized and abused his government position to prioritize his own ambition, personal notoriety, and monetary gain over keeping his constitutional oath. He betrayed the American people by disclosing sensitive information through unauthorized methods and he is wholly unqualified to speak about anything related to the President or his Administration.”
Why It Matters
Taylor’s comments come after Trump on Wednesday announced the United States would resume testing nuclear weapons for the first time in three decades, saying other, unnamed countries were doing so.
The U.S. military already regularly tests its missiles that are capable of delivering a nuclear warhead, but it has not detonated the weapons since 1992. The Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, which the U.S. signed but did not ratify, has been observed since its adoption by all countries possessing nuclear weapons, with the exception of North Korea.
Experts have warned that resuming tests would prompt other nations to follow suit, escalating the risk of a new arms race.
What To Know
In an appearance on CNN Newsnight on Thursday, Taylor said Trump had “fantasized quite openly to advisers about wanting to blow up bombs” during his first term.
“It wasn't more complicated than that. He didn't have this 3D chess strategy. He wanted to see bombs blown up. That was alarming to people," Taylor said.
In comments to Newsweek, Taylor said Trump’s escalating threats to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in 2017 had led administration officials to believe Trump was prepared to take the country into a nuclear war.
“In the national security world, anything having to do with nuclear weapons is handled with extreme sensitivity—well planned, carefully scripted—yet we didn’t know what Trump might say at any given moment. The team was freaked,” Taylor said.
Referring to Trump’s comments that threats from North Korea would be “met with fire, fury, and, frankly, power, the likes of which this world has never seen before,” Taylor added: “That’s when we knew he almost seemed to welcome a nuclear conflict, which terrified us.”
Taylor said that then-Defense Secretary Jim Mattis had stopped him on his way out of a contentious meeting in the White House Situation Room: “‘You all need to prepare like we’re going to war,’ he said. Mattis was serious. DHS should assume the homeland was in mortal danger.”
Taylor said that top DHS leaders were convened to discuss the crisis.
“Experts walked through various scenarios of a nuclear strike on the U.S. homeland, dusted off response plans, and outlined best-case scenarios which sounded horrifically grim,” he said.
“I walked out of those meetings genuinely worried about the safety of the country. In my view, the department was unprepared for the type of nuclear conflict Trump might foment. And to my knowledge, this is the only time in the history of the department that leaders have had to do emergency exercises out of worry the president was barreling toward a possible nuclear conflict.”
What People Are Saying
Miles Taylor told Newsweek: “The president had mused to advisors like John Kelly that he badly wanted to strike North Korea with a nuclear weapon. He wasn’t coyly playing the role of ‘madman’ in order to call North Korea’s bluff. He was actually prepared to take America into a deadly apocalyptic conflict, which would be history’s first ever two-sided nuclear war.”
President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social on Wednesday night: “The United States has more Nuclear Weapons than any other country. This was accomplished, including a complete update and renovation of existing weapons, during my First Term in office. Because of the tremendous destructive power, I HATED to do it, but had no choice! Russia is second, and China is a distant third, but will be even within 5 years. Because of other countries testing programs, I have instructed the Department of War to start testing our Nuclear Weapons on an equal basis. That process will begin immediately. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
Speaking to reporters later, the president appeared to be conflating the testing of missiles that deliver a nuclear warhead with the testing of the warheads. He said other countries “seem to all be nuclear testing. We have more nuclear weapons than anybody. We don’t do testing. We've halted it years many years ago, but with others doing testing, I think it's appropriate that we do also.”
What Happens Next
Asked where and when the tests would occur, Trump told reporters: “It’ll be announced. We have test sites.”
