Trump elaborates on nukes remark

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- President-elect Donald Trump vowed to enhance the United States' nuclear capabilities, telling Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday that he hopes both global powers can restore collaboration so that "we do not have to travel an alternate path."

Trump passed along a "very nice letter" that his transition team said was sent to him by Putin urging Trump to act "in a constructive and pragmatic manner" to "restore the framework of bilateral cooperation."

The letter, dated Dec. 15, also notes that serious global and regional challenges "show that the relations between Russia and the U.S. remain an important factor in ensuring stability and security in the modern world."

In response, Trump said Putin's "thoughts are so correct," and that he hopes "both sides are able to live up to these thoughts, and we do not have to travel an alternate path."

[TRUMP: Timeline of president-elect’s career + list of appointments so far]

Trump did not elaborate on what he meant by "alternate path."

Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed that Putin sent the letter, "voicing hope for an improvement of bilateral ties," according to the Interfax news agency. Trump's transition team described the text as an unofficial translation.

The exchange comes on the heels of comments by Trump and Putin about the need to strengthen their countries' nuclear arsenals.

Earlier Friday, Trump elaborated on his comments about nuclear weapons during a brief, off-air interview from his estate in Florida, a television host said.

"Let it be an arms race," Trump said, according to Mika Brzezinski, the co-host of MSNBC's Morning Joe program, who described her conversation with the president-elect on the morning news program moments later. Trump added: "We will outmatch them at every pass and outlast them all."

Trump reopened the debate over nuclear proliferation Thursday, declaring on Twitter that the U.S. should "greatly strengthen and expand its nuclear capability" until the rest of the world "comes to its senses" regarding nuclear weapons. Those comments echoed an earlier statement by Putin, who said Thursday that strengthening his country's nuclear capabilities should be a chief military objective in the coming year.

On Friday, during a lengthy end-of-year news conference, Putin downplayed the significance of Trump's comments. Putin said he sees "nothing unusual" in Trump's pledge to strengthen the U.S. nuclear forces, saying the statement is in line with the president-elect's campaign promises.

In his wide-ranging remarks, the Russian leader claimed that his country's military is stronger than that of any potential aggressor, but he acknowledged that the U.S. military is bigger. He also cast the modernization of Russia's nuclear arsenals as a necessary response to the U.S. missile defense system.

Trump extolled Putin's leadership during the campaign and called for a tempered approach to U.S.-Russia relations. And while Putin had described Trump in favorable terms during the campaign, observers say Russia's interest is centered on getting relief from crippling sanctions implemented under President Barack Obama's administration and bolstering Russia as the political and economic equivalent of the United States.

Outgoing Defense Secretary Ashton Carter has said the Pentagon plans to spend $108 billion over the next five years on its commitment to correct decades of shortchanging the U.S. nuclear force. He accused Russia in September of "nuclear saber-rattling" and North Korea of nuclear and missile provocations.

Countries on notice

Trump's spokesman said Friday that the president-elect is putting other countries on notice. "It was in response to a lot of countries. Russia, China and others are talking about expanding their nuclear capability," spokesman Sean Spicer said on Fox News. "I think it's putting every nation on notice that the United States is going to reassert its position in the globe."

After Trump's comments to Brzezinski, Spicer appeared on NBC's Today program and said the president-elect was trying to avoid an arms race by signaling to the Russians and other adversaries that he is willing to match any nuclear expansion they might try.

Spicer also told NBC's Today, "We're not going to sit back and watch other nations threaten our safety. ... But just to be clear: The president isn't saying we're going to do this. He said, 'unless they come to their senses.' It's a warning to them that this president isn't going to sit idly by."

When Matt Lauer, the show's co-host, suggested that matching an adversary's expansion was the definition of an arms race, Spicer insisted that would not happen while Trump is president.

"There's not going to be," Spicer said. "Because he's going to ensure that other countries get the message that he's not going to sit back and allow that. And what's going to happen is, they will come to their senses and we will all be just fine."

Responding to Trump's and Putin's comments, China said Friday that countries with the largest nuclear arsenals should take the lead in disarmament.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Hua Chunying told reporters at a regular briefing that China is "paying close attention" to what nuclear weapons policy Trump's administration will follow.

The U.S. and Russia hold the vast majority of the world's nuclear weapons. China is also a nuclear power, and in 1996, the government in Beijing signed the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.

According to the Washington-based Arms Control Association, China has an estimated 260 nuclear warheads. Russia and the U.S. have more than 7,000 each.

Hua said China advocates a ban on and destruction of nuclear weapons.

"The countries that have the largest nuclear arsenals should bear special responsibility for nuclear disarmament, take a lead in drastically and tangibly cutting the number of nuclear weapons so as to create conditions for the eventual full and thorough nuclear disarmament," Hua said.

Trump's tweets

Trump spent Friday in West Palm Beach, Fla., where he spends most holidays. In the morning, he played 18 holes of golf with champion Tiger Woods at the Trump International Golf Course, and he was to hold high-level staff meetings later in the day, his transition team said.

The president-elect took to Twitter early Friday, declaring it a "ridiculous shame" that his son Eric will have to stop soliciting funds for his charitable foundation, the Eric Trump Foundation, because of a conflict of interest. Eric Trump had said Wednesday that he made the decision to avoid the appearance of a conflict.

"He loves these kids, has raised millions of dollars for them, and now must stop. Wrong answer!" Trump said.

Trump also called on the U.S. and other countries to "fight back" against the perpetrators of attacks like Monday's deadly truck assault in a Christmas market in Berlin. Trump quoted a video released Friday by the Islamic State extremist group that shows the Berlin attack suspect saying, "By God's will, we will slaughter you pigs."

"This is a purely religious threat, which turned into reality. Such hatred!" the president-elect wrote on Twitter.

Meanwhile, Indian diplomats said Friday that India's national security adviser made a low-key visit to Washington earlier this week to meet with Michael Flynn, Trump's national security adviser.

India's Ajit Doval met for more than one hour with Flynn, and they discussed their respective security priorities, including counterterrorism. The diplomats spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the unannounced meeting.

Doval then met Tuesday with current U.S. National Security Adviser Susan Rice and Secretary of State John Kerry.

Team's questionnaire

Separately, the Office of Special Counsel, an independent U.S. agency that protects whistleblowers and investigates prohibited practices that affect government employees, declined this week to further investigate a questionnaire sent from the Trump transition team to the Energy Department.

The memo asked for the names of staff members who attended international climate change meetings or interagency meetings related to the economic consequences of climate change.

In a letter to Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., Carolyn Lerner, the special counsel, noted that the Trump transition team had said the questionnaire "was not authorized" and that "transition officials are not considered federal employees" legally.

"The Energy Department also stated it did not provide employee names to the president-elect's transition officials, and no department employee has reported a prohibited personnel action resulting from the questionnaire," Lerner continued.

However, Lerner also elaborated on the kinds of practices that will be prohibited once the Trump administration takes over, noting that "any effort to chill scientific research or discourse is inconsistent with the intent of the" 2012 Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act.

In early 2017, Lerner said, the office will "contact the incoming heads of all agencies and offer training on the whistleblower law, the Hatch Act, and the other laws enforced by OSC," as part of a program to train and certify government employees and agencies for compliance with whistleblower laws.

Lerner's letter was provided by Blumenthal's office. The Office of Special Counsel declined to comment.

According to The Washington Post, the State Department's Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs was asked last week by the Trump transition team, "How much does the Department of State contribute annually to international environmental organizations in which the department participates?"

According to another story in the Post, meanwhile, on Wednesday, the transition team sent a request to a range of State Department offices for information on programs that "promote gender equality, such as ending gender-based violence, promoting women's participation in economic and political spheres, entrepreneurship, etc."

"They seem to be continuing the practice of asking very pointed and loaded questions, seemingly as part of an agenda," Blumenthal said. "And if they continue that, we'll pursue it."

Information for this article was contributed by Vivian Salama, Vladimir Isachenkov, Lolita Baldor, Bradley Klapper, Lynn Berry, Julie Pace, Matthew Pennington and staff members of The Associated Press; by Michael D. Shear of The New York Times; and by Chris Mooney of The Washington Post.

A Section on 12/24/2016