Democratic congressional leaders charged Wednesday morning that President Trump is “more loyal” to Russian President Vladimir Putin than he is to NATO allies. The criticism came after Trump launched a blistering broadside against Germany while in Brussels, accusing German leaders of bowing to Moscow in exchange for the use of Russian natural gas.
In public remarks to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, Trump said that the Germans are “captive to Russia” due to their efforts to purchase even more of their natural gas from the Russians, prompting a rebuke from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. They labeled the remarks an “embarrassment.”
[Related: John Kerry hits Trump for ‘disgraceful,’ ‘destructive’ remarks on Germany during NATO summit]
“President Trump’s brazen insults and denigration of one of America’s most steadfast allies, Germany, is an embarrassment,” the pair said in a joint statement. “His behavior this morning is another profoundly disturbing signal that the president is more loyal to President Putin than to our NATO allies.”
The Democratic leaders went on to say that Trump’s meeting with Putin, which is slated for next Monday, will be considered a “grave step backward” for global security and deemed a failure.
“If the president leaves the Putin meeting without ironclad assurances and concrete steps toward a full cessation of Russian attacks on our democracy, this meeting will not only be a failure – it will be a grave step backward for the future of the international order and global security,” Schumer and Pelosi said. “A successful meeting means real action, now.”
“The president needs to remember that, as commander in chief, his duty is to protect the American people from foreign threats, not to sell out our democracy to Putin,” they said.
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