Democratic senator has a grim warning for the United States regarding North Korea

Senator Chris Coons (D-DE) says that he believes an attack by North Korea on U.S. soil could be imminent, and much sooner than some may expect.

Appearing on the Friday airing of CNN's "The Lead With Jake Tapper," Coons warned that North Korea could have the capability to launch an effective and devastating attack as early as 2019.

Speaking to CNN anchor Pamela Brown — who was sitting in for the show's namesake, Jake Tapper — Coons said, “We may be facing a North Korean nuclear-armed country that has an ICBM capable of hitting the United States within two years. We don’t have a lot of time.”

Adding that his opinion on a timeframe was a "rough guess," Coons explained, "In open source reporting, that’s been talked about as the time it likely will take them. I think this latest missile test took a number of us by surprise in being more successful than expected.”

Coons then turned his sights to President Donald Trump in a plea to arm the U.S. with allies in order to neutralize the threat.

"This is not the time for President Trump to be undermining NATO or the EU or the G20 or our partnerships with the rest of the world," he added.

“I think we’re in a race against time,” Coons said about a possible North Korean attack on the United States earlier in the segment. “And frankly, a race that we may well lose.”

See the full segment in the video below.