mike pence, the secretary of state, mike pompeo and john bolton and president trump then dictated the letter that was addressed directly to the north korean dictator, kim jong-un. the president called off the june 12 summit scheduled between the two leaders, called out north korea for having, quote, tremendous anger and open hostility. the president was complimentary in certain parts of north korea saying they didn't have a, quote, warm dialogue between the two in the last weeks and months, however afterwards, speaking before the cameras, the president directed this warning to north korea. >> i've spoken to general mattis and the joint chiefs and military which is by far the most powerful anywhere in the world, that has been greatly enhanced recently, as you all know. is ready if necessary. reporter: south korea's president moon jae-in was here at the white house two days ago strategizing with president trump for the upcoming session. he called the president's decision today regrettable and president moon said he was perplexed. the democratic leader in the house nancy pelosi contends that the president was not prepared. >> clearly he didn't know what he was getting into and now he's walking away with it. in this chumy, palsy-walesy winner. kim jong-un is the winner. reporter: the white house official is painting a much different picture saying north korea broke several promises. among them both sides were supposed to meet in singapore to hash out logistics, and the north koreans, we're told, never showed up. overnight, a top adviser to the north korean dictator called vice president pence a political dummy. that senior white house official described that as, quote, one of several pretty odd judgment calls. white house officials say language like that from north korea is nothing new. instead, they point to the statement which north korea said there could be a, quote, nuclear to nuclear showdown that ended up being, if not the last straw, certainly one of the final tipping points, liz. liz: blake burman, great to see you. reporter: you bet, liz. liz: more on president trump's letter to north korea, did have diplomatic overtones saying -- here's the president again warning north korea about america's military might. >> no matter what happens and what we do, we will never, ever compromise the safety and security of the united states of america. want to make that statement feel very, very strongly about it. our military, as you know, has been greatly enhanced. we'll soon be at a level that it's never been before. liz: let's bring in a top military expert, retired lieutenant general jerry blakely. good to be with you, general. >> good to be with you, liz. liz: your reaction? >> dictator kim jong-un, who is not prepared to go into a serious negotiation. i think reality has set in. he realizes he was not prepared. he doesn't understand donald trump. he can't predict donald trump, and the other thing is that we see here that the chinese have intervened here and asked kim to back away from this, and not to move quite so quickly. their ultimate fear is a unified korea. liz: whose ultimate fear? >> china's ultimate fear, yes. liz: okay. also the debate in the media, general, john bolton, vice president pence brought up the cash for weapons libya model to overthrow and murder libya's leader muammar qaddafi and kim jong-un got spooked by that. or north korea to blame because they canceled the summit with south korea? got hostile and belligerent threatening nuclear war. who's to blame here? >> i don't know that you can say that anybody's to blame, other than the fact that i don't think kim ever took this very seriously. he certainly went through the motions. he released our hostages. he made overtures, but i think that was all for public affairs benefits, and i think the reality is he never actually decided that he wanted to go into a serious negotiation on giving up his nuclear program, and now, if it is true that his people didn't show up in singapore, to meet with mike pompeo's team, it should be blatantly obvious, he did not want to go through with this. liz: nancy pelosi out in force criticizing the president, general. saying trump was not prepared. white house officials saying noko didn't show up to be prepared for the meeting. let's listen to what nancy pelosi is saying. >> this takes preparation. this takes knowledge. this takes judgment, and clearly, it takes preparation, which the president didn't make. it's clear he didn't know what he was getting into, and now he's walking away from it. liz: general, is pelosi saying our career military and intelligence veterans are unprepared? we're talking mattis, pompeo and kelly. and pompeo has been around since the reagan administration. north korea would not have a nuke. >> no, that's exactly right. and i would question what's her expertise her now, and what gives her the experience to speak in terms of preparedness for negotiation? look, she doesn't know what trump and his team have done. i doubt ser