Donald Trump sparked outrage yesterday after saying he would “encourage” Russia to attack any Nato member that fails to pay its bills as part of the Western military alliance.
Addressing a rally, he recalled how the leader of a “big country” had presented a hypothetical situation in which he was not meeting his financial obligations within Nato and had come under attack from Moscow.
Mr Trump said the leader had asked if the United States would come to his country’s aid in that scenario, which prompted him to issue a rebuke, alluding to Russia.
“I said: ‘You didn’t pay? You’re delinquent?’… ‘No I would not protect you, in fact I would encourage them (Moscow) to do whatever they want. You gotta pay.'”
Mr Trump, the favourite to run again as the Republican candidate in this year’s US presidential election, has long been critical of Nato and what he sees as an excessive financial burden on the United States to guarantee the defence of 30 other nations.
But his comments to the rally in South Carolina were rounded on by the White House, with a spokesman branding them “appalling and unhinged”.
The spokesman said the former president was “encouraging invasions of our closest allies by murderous regimes”.
He added that the statement “endangers American national security, global stability and our economy at home”.
The US has provided Ukraine with more financial support than any other country – totalling more than £34billion since the 2022 invasion, according to White House figures from December.
But Republicans in Congress have since the turn of the year blocked all new funding – demanding tough measures to restrict migration into the US on its southern border, and then refusing the amended bill when it was presented earlier this week.
Mr Trump celebrated that rejection during Saturday’s rally, saying the proposals made by President Joe Biden had been “disastrous”.
The two issues have now been successfully separated, meaning that senators are now able to debate the aid money separately.
