Democratic Rep. Jim Himes (Conn.) dismissed President Donald Trump's recent military actions as "symbolic gestures" during an appearance Monday on CNN.
Anchor Poppy Harlow asked Himes how he would gauge the Trump administration's position on the global stage.
"Well, you have a lot of symbolic gestures," Himes responded. "The MOAB was a big bomb. It is not like we haven't been dropping bombs on Afghanistan and on Iraq and Syria for a very, very long time."
Trump recently ordered cruise missile strikes on a Syrian government airfield that the Assad regime used to launch a chemical weapons attack against civilians. About a week later, the U.S. military on Thursday dropped the Massive Ordnance Air Blast, a 22,000-pound bomb, in eastern Afghanistan near the Pakistani border, targeting Islamic State fighters.
Himes went on to say that the "strategic chessboard" in North Korea has not changed, mentioning Pyongyang's ability to bomb South Korea at a moments notice.
"Whatever the vice president says, the city of Seoul, with 10 million South Koreans, is within easy artillery range of North Korea. Vice President Pence can say what he wants, but it doesn't change the underlying formula or the strategic chessboard," he said.
Harlow challenged Himes, asking if he would admit that the Trump administration has seen success in getting China to cooperate with containing North Korea.
"That remains to be seen, right?" Himes said. "You know, China didn't stop them from trying to test a missile the other day. The missile blew up shortly after launch, but it's not like the Chinese stopped that."