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By Josh Nathan-Kazis August 10, 2017

White House counterterrorism advisor Sebastian Gorka told the BBC on Thursday that Secretary of State Red Tillerson has no business talking about military tensions with North Korea.

“You should listen to the president; the idea that Secretary Tillerson is going to discuss military matters is simply nonsensical,” Gorka said, according to The Washington Post:

It is the job of Secretary Mattis, the secretary of defense, to talk about the military options, and he has done so unequivocally. He said, ‘Woe betide anyone who militarily challenges the United States,’ and that is his portfolio. That is his mandate. Secretary Tillerson is the chief diplomat of the United States, and it is his portfolio to handle those issues.

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The slap at a fellow senior administration official comes as senior administration officials have offered starkly contradictory public statements about the administration’s approach to North Korea.

Hours after Gorka’s comments, President Trump reiterated his own bellicose rhetoric on North Korea, telling reporters that Pyongyang must “get their act together” or it will be in trouble “like few nations have ever been.”

The Forward has reported extensively on Gorka’s ties to a far-right group in Hungary.

Contact Josh Nathan-Kazis at nathankazis@forward.com or on Twitter, @joshnathankazis.

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