Republican Donald Trump said on Thursday that if elected president, he would be open to drawing NATO forces into the fight against ISIS militants in a new mission for an alliance he has called obsolete.
Trump for months raised questions about the money the US pours into NATO, which he says needs to be reconfigured to take account of today’s threats.
I like the idea of using NATO and also neighbours that aren’t in NATO and take them out. You gotta take them out.Donald Trump
Under Barack Obama, the United States has relied heavily on US airstrikes to attack Islamic State targets in Syria and Iraq. Republicans have criticised this policy as not enough to stop the militants.
Trump said the idea of using the Cold War-era alliance would be to ease the load on American forces.
I don’t want to get too much of ours involved. I want NATO to be involved. We spend a tremendous amount of money on NATO. We take care of countries that frankly should be taking care of themselves in terms of economically.
Trump’s comments came amid an uproar over a meeting between former President Bill Clinton and Attorney General Loretta Lynch at a time when Clinton’s wife, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, is under federal investigation.
Hillary Clinton is under an FBI investigation for her use of a private email server when she was President Barack Obama’s first-term secretary of state.
Trump told conservative radio talk show host Mike Gallagher that the meeting was proof of his charge that the US political system is “rigged” in favour of political elites.
Lynch, appointed to her position by Obama more than a year ago, said she did not discuss the email investigation or other pending matters before the Justice Department with Bill Clinton.
When I was landing at the airport, I did see President Clinton at the Phoenix airport as I was leaving and he spoke to myself and my husband on the plane,” Lynch told reporters.Loretta Lynch, Attorney General
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has already interviewed some of Hillary’s aides. The investigation into whether laws were broken as a result of the server kept in her New York home has overshadowed Clinton’s campaign.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)