A second Republican senator defended NATO on Thursday after President Donald Trump said he was “absolutely” considering withdrawing the United States from the alliance.
Sen. Thom Tillis, a Republican, and Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, a Democrat, who co-chair the Senate NATO observer group, said in a joint statement: “Nato stood by America when we were under attack and came to our aid after the September 11th attacks. Their soldiers fought and died alongside our troops in Afghanistan.
“Any president that contemplates attempting to withdraw from Nato is not only fulfilling Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping’s greatest dreams but would be undermining America’s own national security interests.”
On Wednesday, Sen. Mitch McConnell, the former Senate Republican leader, and Sen. Chris Coons, a Democrat, issued a similar statement. “Nato troops fought and died in Afghanistan and Iraq alongside American forces. The United States must not take this sacrifice – nor our allies’ commitment to make it again – lightly,” they said.
“Alliance disputes are as old as the alliance itself. Americans are safer when Nato is strong and united. It is in our interest for all allies to tend this unity with care.” McConnell and Coons are the top Republican and Democrat, respectively, on the Senate defense appropriations subcommittee.
Trump, a longtime critic of the transatlantic alliance, did not consult NATO before working with Israel in the campaign against Iran. He also did not invoke Article 5, the alliance’s collective-defense clause covering “an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America.”
Trump told Reuters on Wednesday that he was “absolutely without question” considering withdrawing from NATO. In a separate interview with the Telegraph, he said he had never been “swayed by Nato” and that withdrawal was “beyond reconsideration.”
Trump’s criticism of NATO has exposed divisions among some Republican senators. Tillis said he would not seek reelection in November after breaking with Trump last year on his domestic policy bill. McConnell is retiring after serving in the Senate since 1985.