Trump’s City Remarks Draw Criticism and White House Response

President Donald Trump’s remarks about Los Angeles and San Diego at a Monday rally in Nebraska prompted criticism from California officials and a White House clarification that he was describing a threat the United States was seeking to prevent, not calling for an attack on the cities. The competing interpretations of his wording remained unresolved in the supplied accounts. Trump was discussing the economic costs of the Iran war, including higher prices, when he said those costs were a small price to pay for keeping the country safe and preventing Iran from becoming a nuclear power. He then said, “They can take out a city. Let them take out Los Angeles. Let them take out San Diego,” drawing applause from the crowd, according to accounts of the rally. White House Communications Director Steven Cheung said Trump meant that U.S. cities would have been threatened if Iran had not been stopped from acquiring nuclear weapons. The White House Rapid Response account similarly said the president was arguing that the United States was fighting to prevent Iran from gaining the ability to attack the two cities with a nuclear weapon. California Gov.