CNN’s Acosta: UN speech ‘a lot of Trump tweets strung together’

CNN senior White House correspondent Jim Acosta on Tuesday called President Trump’s first address to the United Nations General Assembly a collection of his “tweets strung together.”

“UN speech was a lot of Trump tweets strung together. Saber-rattling. But no clear doctrine. Threats of confrontation around the world,” Acosta wrote on Twitter.  

UN speech was a lot of Trump tweets strung together. Saber-rattling. But no clear doctrine. Threats of confrontation around the world.

— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) September 19, 2017

{mosads}

Acosta’s tweet came shortly after Trump threatened to use force in the face of North Korea’s advancing nuclear weapons program while addressing global leaders at the assembly in New York.

“Rocket Man is on a suicide mission for himself and for his regime,” Trump told the U.N. audience, using a nickname to refer to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

“The United States has great strength and patience, but if it is forced to defend itself or its allies, we will have no choice but to totally destroy North Korea,” Trump said.

Separately, CNN’s chief national security correspondent, Jim Sciutto, also chalked up the president’s North Korea rhetoric as a play on his Twitter messaging.

“We saw the president import his Twitter diplomacy directly to the floor of the United Nations General Assembly and it’s our understanding that the president himself wanted that language in there,” Sciutto said while reporting on the reaction to the speech on CNN’s “Wolf.”

The president’s tough talk comes after North Korea has conducted a series of missile tests in recent months while threatening to use their nuclear capabilities to strike foes if challenged.