National security

Obama still scared of Trump with nuclear codes

President Barack Obama still doesn’t think Donald Trump can handle the nuclear codes or safely protect America from attack — he just doesn’t want to talk about it anymore.

Asked Tuesday about the president-elect’s tweeting Monday about North Korea’s apparently burgeoning nuclear capacity, White House press secretary Josh Earnest noted that Obama had repeatedly raised his concerns about Trump’s capacity for nuclear security during the 2016 campaign. When pressed about whether Obama has confidence in Trump’s abilities now, Earnest instead spoke of the confidence the outgoing president has in the career, non-political members of the intelligence community, military and State Department who are “ultimately responsible for implementing policies.”