White House reporter says 'things got weird' during a photo-op between Trump and military officials
"You guys know what this represents," Trump asked the press as he pointed around the room, another journalist wrote of the incident.
"Tell us," one reporter said.
"Maybe it's the calm before the storm," Trump replied.
"What's the storm," another reporter asked. "On Iran? On ISIS? On what?"
Trump then praised the military: "We have the world's great military people in this room," before concluding the photo session.
Before leaving, however, another reporter asked: "What storm, Mr. President?"
"You'll find out," Trump replied.
On Wednesday, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson denied reports of calling Trump a "moron" and said that he never considered resigning from his post.
"I'm not gonna deal with petty stuff like that," Tillerson said following the damaging NBC News report. "There's never been a consideration in my mind to leave." For his part, Trump has denied rumors of friction with his top diplomat.
The cryptic remarks Trump made in front of military officials follow a deadly ambush that killed three and wounded two US Special Forces soldiers in Niger on Wednesday. A handful of Special Forces soldiers were reportedly conducting a joint US-Nigerien patrol when they were attacked by 50 combatants believed to an ISIS-affiliate..