During a phone call with Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, Trump reportedly informed Duterte that nuclear submarines have been positioned off the coast of North Korea.
Trump told Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte Washington had "a lot of firepower over there", according to the New York Times, which quoted a transcript of an April 29 call between the two.
"We have two submarines — the best in the world. We have two nuclear submarines, not that we want to use them at all," the newspaper quoted Trump as telling Duterte, based on the transcript.
The report was based on a Philippine transcript of the call that was circulated on Tuesday under a "confidential" cover sheet by the Americas division of the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs.
It's not necessarily a secret that we've positioned substantial military assets in the area, but it's also probably not something Trump should casually disclose and it could be another propaganda coup for the North Koreans.
Depending on your perspective, however, this may not even be the most alarming thing Trump said to Duterte and we're inching closer to Trump actually showing off the nuclear football.
Trump also reportedly praised Duterte's handling of the nation's war on drugs in which Duterte has enabled the extrajudicial killing of thousands.