Former US President Donald Trump has suggested he wouldn’t respond to Russian attacks on weaker Nato members who don’t meet their financial obligations.
On Saturday, Biden’s anticipated rival in this year’s presidential elections said he had previously made his position clear during an unspecified Nato meeting during his term in the White House.
He said: ‘One of the presidents of a big country stood up and said, “Well, sir, if we don’t pay, and we’re attacked by Russia, will you protect us?”’
He then added: ‘I said, “You didn’t pay, you’re delinquent? No, I would not protect you. In fact, I would encourage them to do whatever the hell they want. You got to pay. You got to pay your bills.”’
Under the terms of the alliance, all Nato members are required to spend 2% of their GBP on defence.
Responding to Trump’s comments, White House spokesperson Andrew Bates said that ‘encouraging invasions of our closest allies by murderous regimes is appalling and unhinged – and it endangers American national security, global stability and our economy at home.’
Trump has similarly expressed contempt for US aid to Ukraine in its ongoing defence against the Russian invasion, against a backdrop of Republican representatives blocking an aid package to Ukraine as part of a Congressional stand-off over funding for fortifying the US’s southern border with Mexico.
Other political commentators were also swift to condemn Trump’s latest statements.
David Corn, Washington bureau chief for investigative outlet Mother Jones, wrote on X, formerly Twitter: ‘Sounds as if Trump is kind of encouraging Russia to attack our Nato allies.’
Right-wing pundit Alyssa Farah Griffin also described his words as ‘music’ to Putin’s ears.
Ahead of US voters heading to the polls in November to elect their country’s next president, Trump, who would appear set at this stage to secure the Republican nomination, has been performing well in the polls.
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At present, he appears to hold an 11-point lead over Biden, who in recent days has fought off allegations of an accelerating decline in his cognitive faculties as the oldest sitting president in US history.
Nevertheless, Trump is also facing his own battles, as he continues to wrestle with no less than 90 criminal charges levelled against him, for alleged offences ranging from the illegal retention of classified government documents to illicit payments to a pornstar with whom he’s alleged to have had an extramarital affair.
Trump has denied all allegations against him, touting the charges to his support base as evidence of a deep-state conspiracy designed to keep him from the White House after supposedly ‘stealing the election’ from him in 2020.
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