NBC News defends Trump nuke story after White House denial

NBC News is defending its report that President Donald Trump wanted a massive expansion of the US nuclear arsenal after Defense Secretary James Mattis pushed back on those claims. Courtney Kube, a national security producer for NBC News, said the report never said President Trump "called for" more nuclear weapons, rather only that he "said he wanted more." NBC reported earlier Oct 11 that Trump suggested dramatically expanding the country's nuclear capabilities — from roughly 4,000 to 32,000 warheads — after seeing data that showed the US weapons stockpile decreasing from that level since the 1960s.

Defense Secretary James Mattis in a statement hit back at the NBC report, saying President Trump never "called for" an increase in the nuclear arsenal. "Recent reports that the President called for an increase in the U.S. nuclear arsenal are absolutely false. This kind of erroneous reporting is irresponsible,” Sec Mattis said.