As President Donald Trump posed for a formal photo with his top military commanders and their spouses in the State Dining Room at the White House on Thursday evening, Trump pointed to the leaders gathered around him and asked the small group of reporters standing before him, "You guys know what this represents?"
"Tell us," shouted out one of the reporters summoned to witness the photo session.
"Maybe it's the calm before the storm," the president replied.
Reporters asked the president what he was talking about and what storm was coming.
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"Could be the calm before the storm," he said a second time.
When pressed, he would only respond, "You'll find out."
On Friday, Trump and his spokesman repeatedly declined to clarify the remark.
Amid tensions with North Korea over its nuclear and missile programs and reports that Pyongyang may be on the verge of another missile test, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders declined to explain the comment.
"We're never going to say in advance what the president's going to do," Sanders told reporters.
Earlier Thursday evening, the White House communications team had told reporters that the president would not make any more appearances that day -- but at about 7:10 p.m., those who happened to still be at the White House were summoned to the State Dining Room to briefly witness the photo-taking session.
As cameras clicked, Trump grew quiet and smiled broadly.
"What storm, Mr. President?" a reporter called out after Trump made his remark.
"We have the world's great military people in this room, I will tell you that," Trump said in a loud but calm tone.
He then looked down the rows of people standing on either side of him and said, "Thank you all for coming, thank you."
One of the reporters again asked, "What storm, Mr. President?"
Trump replied, "You'll find out."
The reporters were led out of the room after having been there for just one minute.
During a meeting with military leaders Thursday afternoon, Trump said his administration was focused on "challenges that we really should have taken care of a long time ago, like North Korea, Iran, Afghanistan, [the Islamic State militant group], and the revisionist powers that threaten our interests all around the world."
During those remarks, the president also appeared to issue a vague threat toward the regime in North Korea, which has antagonized the U.S. president with a series of nuclear and ballistic-missile tests.
"We cannot allow this dictatorship to threaten our nation or our allies with unimaginable loss of life," Trump said. "We will do what we must do to prevent that from happening. And it will be done, if necessary -- believe me."
Information for this article was contributed by Jenna Johnson of The Washington Post; and by Justin Sink and Arit John of Bloomberg News.
A Section on 10/07/2017