It was a Thursday night report guaranteed to shake up D.C.: the U.S. is ready to launch a missile strike on North Korea if they test a nuclear weapon this weekend.
The problem? Pentagon officials called the report wildly wrong and crazy.
NBC News reported on Thursday that the U.S. has positioned two destroyers capable of shooting Tomahawk cruise missiles at North Korea, should the rogue nation go forward with its sixth nuclear test this weekend.
As NBC News William Arkin, Cynthia McFadden, and Kenzi Abou-Sabe noted, North Korea has said in recent days it is ready to go to war with the U.S. if the U.S. steps up its military engagement with the north.
Not more than a few hours later came this tweet from Fox News Jennifer Griffin:
Was NBC News irresponsible to publish a report on a rogue nation that the Pentagon clearly had not confirmed? Pundits and officials in D.C. will debate that matter, but the news outlet certainly caught the countrys attention on Thursday night.