The White House on Wednesday defended Donald Trump's tweet about the size of his nuclear button, saying Americans should be concerned about the North Korean leader's mental fitness, not their president's.

On Tuesday, Trump responded to a New Year's Day speech in which North Korean leader Kim Jong Un warned he had a nuclear button on his desk by saying that his nuclear button "is a much bigger & more powerful one than his, and my Button works!"

The tweet provoked strong criticism, especially from Trump's Democratic opponents, and former Vice President Joe Biden called it dangerously cavalier.