‘Utterly shocking’ that Trump abruptly undercut his own administration to help Kim Jong-un: ex-sanctions official

On Friday, the President sowed confusion among global policy experts by Tweeting that he'd ordered “additional large scale” penalties against North Korea to be lifted.

As Bloomberg reported, the Presidential policy directive bewildered top officials, who did not expect to be undercut by the President on Twitter.

“This is utterly shocking,” John Smith, a former director of the Office of Foreign Assets Control at Treasury aid in an email to Bloomberg. “The president of the United States actively undercut his own sanctions agency for the benefit of North Korea.”

“President Trump likes Chairman Kim and he doesn’t think these sanctions will be necessary,” White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in an email.