Former White House aide Sebastian Gorka said on Friday that President Trump’s motive for criticizing NATO is to make the alliance more relevant.
“The president is a pragmatist. He’s not interested in fancy dinners and protocol events and nice statements. He wants this alliance to make itself relevant to the current threat environment, which it’s not relevant right now,” Gorka told Hill.TV’s Buck Sexton on “Rising.”
The former special assistant to the president cited threats originating from Russia.
“Look at what we face today. Russia isn’t the Soviet Union, but it’s still destabilizing. It invaded another country and annexed its territory. That is a taboo. It is making trouble in Syria, it’s trying to destabilize the Baltic states, which are already NATO nations,” he said.
Gorka’s comments follow Trump’s tumultuous visit with NATO member leaders at the organization’s summit in Brussels this week. Trump had publicly pondered “what good is NATO” prior to the meetings.
Trump said during a press conference on Thursday that the U.S. remained committed to the alliance and that allies met his demands to increase their defense spending immediately.
“The United States’s commitment to NATO is very strong, remains very strong,” Trump said. “Tremendous progress has been made. Everyone’s agreed to substantially up their commitment. They’re going to up it at levels that they’ve never thought of before.”
The comments also come before Trump is set to meet face-to-face with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki on Monday.
Trump said he plans to press Putin on the issue of election meddling and Russian military involvement in Syria.
— Julia Manchester
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