Trump-Kim Summit

Floor Speech

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Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, I rise today briefly to thank President Trump. I want to thank him for our summit with North Korea in Singapore.

Only Nixon could go to China, and I think only Trump could go to North Korea. I understand that he went to Singapore, but you get the point. It is a beginning. It is a baby step, but it was an important step, and I want to thank President Trump for taking it.

Certainly, there is nothing in the history of Kim Jong Un or his father or his grandfather that would cause us to be optimistic. So I think the President and all Americans are entering into this discourse with eyes wide open.

We also know that Kim Jong Un is not coming to the table out of the goodness of his heart. President Trump and the U.S. Congress have hit him with sanctions, and we have hit him so hard that he is coughing up bones. I hate to do that to the people of North Korea, but we had no choice.

I think Kim Jong Un is coming to the table also because he understands that, for the first time in a long time, America means what it says and a military option is on the table. He saw what happened to Assad in Syria, not once but twice.

So we enter into this discourse with North Korea, as I said, with eyes wide open. An old comedian once said that sincerity is everything. Fake that, and you got it made.

Well, we don't know whether Kim Jong Un is sincere yet. We will probably find out when the President asks for authority to send in inspectors from America to inventory Kim Jong Un's nuclear arsenal, his nuclear technology, and his missile technology. If the answer is ``no, we can't do that,'' or if Kim Jong Un takes evasive measures to try to hide his weaponry, then, we will know, but we will have tried.

I want to thank President Trump today on behalf of all Americans who believe in peace for the successful start of what I hope will be a successful summit and relationship with North Korea.

Thank you, President Trump.

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