“We have just enacted our Defense Authorization Act, including a provision with an overwhelming bipartisan majority. Our ratification of the NATO treaty decades ago was silent on whether an American president could unilaterally withdraw America from NATO.
“It is no longer silent, we have amended the statute. An American President can no longer unilaterally withdraw us from NATO. Why was that done? I think it is clear.”
His final comment sparked an eruption of laughter among those in the audience. Last week, Trump refused to commit to NATO if he is elected President again.
Fox News host Bret Baier asked: “Would you be committed to NATO in [a] second Trump term.”
Trump replied: “Depends on if they treat us properly. Look, NATO has taken advantage of our country. The European countries… took advantage of us on trade and then they took advantage of us on military protection.”
The comments come amid reports that Trump told the president of the European Commission in 2020 that “NATO is dead” and that the US would “never come help” if Europe was attacked.
Thierry Breton, a French European commissioner, made the allegations, quoting Trump as saying: “You need to understand that if Europe is under attack we will never come to help you and to support you.”
After securing victory in the Republican party’s Iowa caucuses, Trump vowed that he would “solve” the conflicts involving Ukraine and Russia and Israel and Hamas in the Middle East.
He said that, if he were President, “Russia would not have attacked, Israel would never have been attacked.”
Trump continued: “The Ukraine situation is so horrible, the Israeli situation is so horrible. We are going to get them solved very fast.”
