Jeffrey Lewis - The 2020 Commission Report on the North Korean Nuclear Attacks Against the United States

The loss of life was tragic, Sullivan reasoned, but North Korea had backed itself into a corner. He calculated that the resulting pressure on North Korea would offer him his best chance at negotiating an end to North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs. “John thought he would offer North Korea a way out,” according to Hook, “but he wanted that way out to be a loss for Kim and a victory for us.”

Connected by the Ops Center to the North Korean ambassador, Sullivan explained that Sydney Seiler, the newly appointed US special representative for North Korea policy, would be on the 3:15 AM Amtrak out of Washington, arriving in Penn Station at 6:40 AM. Would the North Koreans take a meeting with him?

Ja agreed to meet with Seiler. After a brief discussion, the North Korean diplomat also agreed to ask the Chinese to host the meeting, although Sullivan secured his assurance that it would be a bilateral affair between the two representatives. “The Chinese just bring the donuts,” explained Hook later. No one notified Haley or Lerner.

President Trump chafed under the order imposed by Francis. Indeed, the president called his chief of staff the “Church Lady”—an insult that he had initially used against Kelly, but which he applied to Francis with even more regularity. In truth, however, Francis was less severe than this nickname implies. He knew he could not change the president. He simply had to try to steer Trump as best he could.

Among his many measures to impose order on the White House, one thing Francis did not try to do was to prevent the president from using Twitter or other social media—even though Twitter remained a constant source of information that Francis and Kellogg believed was often misleading or false and too often tempted the president to make ill-considered remarks that would disrupt days or sometimes weeks of his staff’s careful preparations.

Francis and Kellogg had worked hard to persuade other governments not to take the president’s tweets too seriously. Francis’s predecessor Kelly had once told reporters, “Believe it or not, I do not follow the tweets,” and Francis made a point of repeating that statement as often as possible. This was part of a strategy to downplay the importance of these often inflammatory, but technically official presidential statements.

In fact, Francis did attempt to impose some order on what the president tweeted. He asked for the same thing Kelly had asked for—to be informed of what Trump planned to tweet before he did so—and tried to discourage the president from using Twitter to make major policy announcements. Even so, Francis told colleagues, he knew there would always be late-night or early-morning tweets that he did not see. His overall goal was simply “pushing the tweets in the right direction.”

But even such mild attempts to direct the president’s Twitter habit had proven difficult, especially when it came to Trump’s remarks about foreign leaders. In particular, his social-media bullying of Kim Jong Un had reached a new nadir following the collapse of the diplomatic thaw with North Korea in 2018. Of all the people President Trump blamed for the failure of negotiations with the Kim regime—and Pompeo, Kelly, and Bolton received their share of his animus—the person Trump held most responsible was Kim himself.

Of course, Trump could not fire the leader of North Korea with a tweet. But he could express his disappointment that their negotiations had come to naught. Thus, the collapse of the 2018 diplomatic effort was followed by a string of aggressive, baiting tweets that were impressively personal in nature.

Donald J. Trump@tehDonaldJTrump

That SHORT and FAT kid in North Korea is all talk and no action. He is doing nothing to de-nuke. Great opportunity missed. Too bad!

Donald J. Trump@tehDonaldJTrump

I have offered Rocketman a wonderful deal. De-nuke now and things will be much better! Or not. Maybe I should push my big Button! IT WORKS!

Donald J. Trump@tehDonaldJTrump

Little Rocketman has totally misrepresented denuke plan we offered. Deals can’t get made when there is no trust! Fat kid blew it and will be sorry. Sad!

Donald J. Trump@tehDonaldJTrump

De-nuke issue is made increasingly difficult by the fact that Little Rocketman is too weak to stand up to his generals!

Even more noteworthy than these broadsides was a series of tweets directed at Kim’s sister, Kim Yo Jong. This Twitterstorm appeared shortly after a Fox News segment on the collapse of US–North Korean negotiations and the possible role of Kim Yo Jong, all underneath a chyron reading, “NORTH KOREA’S IVANKA?”

Donald J. Trump@tehDonaldJTrump

Rocketman’s sister IS NOT North Korea’s IVANKA. Ivanka is 6 feet tall. She’s got the best body. Rocketman’s sister is flat as a board!

Donald J. Trump@tehDonaldJTrump

Some people say the problem is Little Rocktman’s sister. They think she’s a 10 but she’s a TOTAL ZERO.

Donald J. Trump@tehDonaldJTrump

Lightweight sister of Kim, a total ZERO, “begged” President Moon-SHINE to get me me to come to Pyongyang (and probably would do anything get me there). No THANKS!

At the time of these tweets, few in the United States regarded them as remarkable. Most Americans saw Trump’s remarks as simply the latest in a long line of inflammatory but politically inconsequential statements coming out of the White House, no different than the president’s occasional online feuds with Oprah Winfrey or Rosie O’Donnell. But in North Korea the tweets about Kim Yo Jong were seen as something altogether different.

At about 5:40 AM on the morning of March 21, the president awoke in his residence at Mar-a-Lago. He turned on the television but showered before finally sitting down before the screen.

Fox & Friends aired at 6:00 AM, about an hour before Moon was to begin his address. (In fact, Moon’s address one hour later would not be carried on any major American television stations because it was in Korean.) Instead, Fox & Friends, like other morning news programs, led with a general report on the shootdown of Flight 411.

Trump immediately called Francis. “What the hell is going on?”

“A South Korean civilian airliner was shot down,” the chief of staff remembered explaining to the president. “It may have been North Korea. We are in the lobby and can meet you in the Situation Room for a full briefing.”

“Okay. I have a…”

Francis said that Trump spent a moment searching for the right word.

“I have a… an appointment with Bob.”

Francis explained to the commission that his goal was to keep the president calm and focused. “The briefing won’t take long, sir. We can schedule our work today around the tee time with Mr. Kraft. We can talk about it downstairs, sir.”

“Downstairs. Okay. Little Rocket Man won’t be around much longer if he keeps this up, huh?”

“No, sir, he’s really made a big mistake. See you downstairs.”

Trump put his phone down and got dressed. Because he was still planning to play eighteen holes with Bob Kraft, he picked out his typical golfing outfit of khakis, a white polo shirt, and a red hat. He put his phone in his pocket and then headed out toward the main lobby, where he could take a staircase down into the Situation Room.

When President Trump reached the steep, narrow stairs, he hesitated. A club member in the lobby saw him stop, then feel for his phone in his pocket.

Trump looked down the stairs, winding down into the basement. He often complained that he never got reception down there. The member saw the president do one last thing before going down. Trump took out his phone and tapped out a short tweet. Then he hit Send and began, ever so carefully, to walk down the stairs, one step at a time.