[ad_1]
CNN
—
Republican Sen. Marco Rubio criticized former President Donald Trump’s controversial comment that he encouraged NATO members who don’t meet defense spending guidelines to do “whatever they want” to Russia. defended.
Asked on CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday if he was satisfied with President Trump’s suggestion that he not protect NATO countries, the Florida Republican said: “That’s not what happened and I have a different view of that statement.” ‘ he objected.
Rubio went on to say that the United States did not leave NATO during Trump’s term, but that Trump had threatened to leave NATO on numerous occasions, according to the New York Times. Stated.
“Donald Trump is not a member of the Council on Foreign Relations,” Rubio told CNN’s Jake Tapper. “He doesn’t speak like a traditional politician and we’ve already been through this. You’d think people would have figured it out by now.”
At Saturday’s rally in Conway, North Carolina, President Trump said that “one of the presidents of a great power” once asked him whether the United States would defend his country if Russia invaded, “even if we didn’t pay.” Ta.
“No, I’m not going to protect you,” Trump recalled telling the president. “In fact, I would encourage them to do whatever they want to do. You have to pay. You have to pay the bills.”
President Trump has long inaccurately explained how NATO funding works. NATO has a goal for its members to spend at least 2% of their gross domestic product on defense, but most countries fall short of that goal. However, this number is a guideline, not a binding contract, and does not create a “bill”. It is not that member states do not pay their share of the common budget for running the NATO organization.
Mr. Rubio, who recently passed legislation requiring an act of Congress before the U.S. commander-in-chief can withdraw from NATO, argued that Mr. Trump was simply echoing anecdotes from his presidency. He added that “virtually every American president” has complained about other countries not doing enough for the alliance.
“This is the first time Mr. Trump has expressed it in these terms,” said Rubio, vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee.
Rubio also responded to Trump’s derisive comments about the absence of Republican candidate Nikki Haley’s husband Michael, who is deployed overseas. Rubio characterized the remarks as a product of “the growing discomfort of this campaign and all campaigns in American politics.”
“I mean, they’re calling him a grumpy old man. They’re attacking Donald Trump,” Rubio said. “So in response to this kind of terrible behavior, Trump will do whatever he can.”
Tapper reminded Trump that Trump’s comments about the late Sen. John McCain, whom he called “not a war hero,” disqualified him from being commander in chief, and Rubio said, Yes, I was running for president against Donald Trump.” ”
Rubio supports the former president in his bid to take back the White House. write to x Last month, he said, “It’s time to get to work defeating Biden and saving America!”
This support is a sharp departure from what Rubio told CNN in 2016. “For many years to come, there’s going to be a lot of right-wing people in the media and in the electorate in general, and they’re going to have to justify why they got into this situation,” Trapp said. ”
CNN’s Serena Golden and Kate Sullivan contributed to this report.
[ad_2]
Source link
