Sarah Huckabee Sanders, a senior advisor to Donald Trump and the daughter of former Gov. Mike Huckabee (R-AK), defended her boss' promise to allow more nuclear weapons in Asia, arguing that it would keep Americans safe.
During an interview with The New York Times last week, Trump had said that he would be open to allowing Japan and South Korea to acquire nuclear weapons to decrease reliance on the United States.
CNN host Alisyn Camerota asked Sanders on Monday why Trump was for effectively ending the U.S. policy on nuclear containment.
"Donald Trump's overarching theme has been to put Americans first," Sanders opined. "And I think that he's putting all things on the table that help keep our country safe, keep our borders secure. And that is his biggest focus."
"But how does it keep the U.S. safe if more countries get nuclear weapons?" Camerota wondered.
"The big thing here is that we need some other countries to get some skin in the game," Sanders insisted. "For far too long, the Obama administration has let everybody else walk free while America carries the burden for keeping the entire world safe, not just America safe, but the entire world safe."
"You mean let other countries get nuclear skin in the game?" Camerota pressed. "Because it has been the impression that by keeping nuclear weapons out of the hands of other countries, that is what keeps the U.S. safe."
"I don't think he's necessarily advocating we put nuclear bombs in the hands of everybody," the Trump adviser replied. "Again, the theme is and the point is, is that we need to look at all options, and that we need to do -- number one and our top priority and our top focus time and time again has to be to put Americans first and to keep Americans safe."
"We need to look at different options in order to do that," she added. "Clearly, what the past administration and the Obama administration has done and what Hillary Clinton did as secretary of state didn't do that. And so we need to look at new things that, again, keep Americans safe and keep our country safe."
Watch the video below from CNN, broadcast March 28, 2016.
