"Pays the bills!"

Trump would not protect NATO countries from Russians

At the election rally in South Carolina, Donald Trump explained how he wants to get NATO countries to put more money into their defense budgets.(Bild: APA/Getty Images via AFP/GETTY IMAGES/WIN MCNAMEE)

Even as president, Donald Trump constantly threatened to withdraw the USA from NATO if the other member states did not meet their "financial obligations". Now the current Republican presidential candidate has made explosive statements during a campaign event in South Carolina. He explained that as president he had threatened NATO allies that those countries that "didn't pay their bills" would not be protected ...

When the president of "a large country" confronted him at a NATO meeting with the question of whether the USA would intervene in the event of a Russian attack against the country, even if it had "not paid", the 77-year-old quoted from his answer at the time: "Certainly not. In fact, I would encourage them to do whatever they want."

You can watch Trump's campaign appearance below. You can find the controversial NATO sayings from hour 2:34:15.

After his threats, "all of a sudden the money started flowing," Trump boasted, also claiming that NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg was "a big fan" of his. Trump did not elaborate on which meeting was involved at the time. It is also not certain whether the words at the summit were actually spoken as Trump claims.

EU Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton brought some clarity to the puzzle and attested to Trump's "memory problems": "It was actually a president, not of a country, but of the EU," said Breton, referring to Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. In January, the EU Commissioner himself had reported on a 2020 meeting in Davos between Trump and von der Leyen. He quoted Trump as saying, among other things: "By the way, NATO is dead and we will leave it, we will leave NATO."

White House appalled
Trump's latest election campaign appearance has caused a great stir. The White House was outraged. Spokesman Andrew Bates emphasized: "Encouraging invasions of our closest allies by murderous regimes is appalling and disturbing - and it jeopardizes U.S. national security, global security, and the stability of our domestic economy."

Donald Trump told the campaign rally in South Carolina how he wants NATO countries to put more money into defense budgets.(Bild: APA/Getty Images via AFP/GETTY IMAGES/WIN MCNAMEE)

NATO: "Undermining our security"
NATO spoke of an "undermining of our security". Any suggestion that the states of the alliance would not defend each other would undermine the security of all members, explained NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg on Sunday. This also applies to the USA. "This puts US and European soldiers at increased risk."