U.S. President Donald Trump claimed on the 5th (local time) that he heard for the first time about the operation in which the Trump administration infiltrated special forces to bug North Korean Chairman Kim Jong Un in 2019.
During a signing ceremony for an executive order at the White House that day, President Trump responded to questions about the North Korean infiltration operation reported by The New York Times (NYT), saying, "I know nothing about it."
He said, "I can check, but I know nothing," adding, "I am hearing about it for the first time now."
Earlier that day, NYT reported that President Trump had approved a U.S. Navy special forces operation to infiltrate North Korea with the aim of installing devices to bug Chairperson Kim Jong Un in 2019. This period coincides with the time when negotiations over North Korea's nuclear program were ongoing. NYT also reported that the operation failed.