White House: US 'will deal with' Russia's expulsion of diplomats

The White House vowed Thursday to "deal with" Russia's decision this week to expel dozens of American diplomats, declaring the move a "further deterioration" in relations between the two countries.

President Trump's top spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders defended the United States' move to join more than two dozen other nations and NATO allies in expelling scores of "undeclared Russian intelligence officers" over a spy attack linked to Russia.

Sanders said that while the western response to the Russian poisoning attack on a former double agent living in Britain was "appropriate," Russia's retaliatory response Thursday "marks a further deterioration in the United States-Russia relationship."

"Russia’s response was not unanticipated, and the United States will deal with it," the White House statement added.

The comments were the latest from the Trump administration warning of a response to Russia's expulsion of 60 U.S. diplomats. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said earlier Thursday that Washington would "reserve the right to respond" to the move.