Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) on Wednesday said that, despite his repeated attacks on allies at the NATO summit in Belgium, President Trump “seems all too happy” to help Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Trump kicked off the NATO summit in Brussels on Wednesday with pointed attacks against the member states, demanding they immediately increase their defense spending, a criticism he’s made many times in the past.
{mosads}He later called on the alliance’s members to increase their gross domestic product (GDP) spending on defense from a commitment of 2 percent to 4 percent, though the U.S. spent only 3.6 percent of its GDP on defense last year.
He repeated that many of the nations should reimburse the U.S. for its contributions to the alliance.
“You know, we’re protecting Germany, we’re protecting France,” Trump said. “We’re protecting everybody. And yet we’re paying a lot of money to protect.”
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said Trump is sowing “discord inside Europe,” a move that benefits Russia.
Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) echoed Warren and Murphy, tweeting, “This is *exactly* what Putin wants.”
The Senate on Tuesday voted 97-2 in favor of a motion supporting NATO ahead of the summit, and the House passed a resolution backing NATO by unanimous voice vote on Wednesday.
NATO suspended cooperation with Russia following Russia’s aggressive annexation of Crimea in 2014. Since then, the alliance has repeatedly condemned Russia’s military actions.
Trump is slated to meet with Putin in Finland early next week, following a visit to the United Kingdom.