President Donald Trump slammed member nations of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) early Wednesday morning in Brussels, demanding that they increase their funding of the organization and accused Germany of being Russia’s captive.
NPR reports:
In a stunning public dressing-down of NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, President Trump fired off criticisms of the alliance, reiterating his complaint that it is not paying enough for defense and singling out a German oil-and-gas pipeline deal with Russia.
“Well, I have to say I think it’s very sad when Germany makes a massive oil and gas deal with Russia when you’re supposed to be guarding against Russia,” Trump said.
“So, we’re protecting Germany, we’re protecting France, we’re protecting all of these countries,” Trump continued. “And then numerous of the countries go out and make a pipeline deal with Russia where they’re paying billions of dollars into the coffers of Russia. So, we are supposed to protect you against Russia.”
“You tell me if that is appropriate?” Trump said as he blistered NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg. “Germany is totally controlled by Russia.”
“This has been going on for decades,” Trump continued. “This has been brought up by other presidents, but other presidents never did anything about it.”
“It’s very unfair to our country, it’s very unfair to our taxpayers,” Trump said. “And I think that these countries have to step it up not over a 10 year period— they have to step it up immediately.”
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