Former White Home nationwide safety adviser John Bolton warned that former President Trump is prone to withdraw from NATO if reelected in November.
Bolton, citing previous threats from Trump round NATO allies not spending adequately on protection, informed CNN’s Kaitlan Collins Thursday that the chances are “very high.”
“For Republicans who believe that Trump will be okay in a second term, that he won‘t ditch support for Ukraine, that he won‘t withdraw from NATO, that he won‘t interpret the treaty of Washington in a way that makes it wholly useless… Go ahead and vote for Trump if you want, but for goodness stakes do it with your eyes open,” Bolton mentioned in an interview on CNN’s “The Source.”
“The odds that he will withdraw from NATO are very high,” he added.
Collins had requested Bolton what his ideas have been on remarks made by Trump on the Detroit Financial Membership earlier Thursday, when he reiterated that he wouldn’t defend NATO allies from Russian aggression.
The CNN host additionally talked about veteran journalist Bob Woodward’s newest bombshell e book that claims Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin have secretly been in contact not less than seven instances for the reason that former president left workplace. Trump has denied the claims.
Bolton, who served underneath the Trump administration, acknowledged that the variety of instances the 2 spoke is in dispute, nevertheless it “wouldn’t surprise [him] in the slightest” if the previous president was in contact with the Russian chief.
“It would simply confirm what has been evident for some time that Trump thinks he’s got a great personal relationship with Vladimir Putin,” he informed Collins.
However, the previous White Home adviser added, “If he has a good relationship personally, then the U.S. and that country have a good relationship — that’s just utter nonsense.”
Bolton had beforehand warned of Trump’s departure from NATO, calling Trump’s overseas coverage “erratic” in an interview final yr.
“In a second Trump term, we’d almost certainly withdraw from NATO,” Bolton mentioned on the time, citing the previous president’s cope with the Taliban that led to the U.S. withdrawal and his dealings with Iran.
The Hill has contacted the Trump marketing campaign for remark.
