Joe Biden slams Donald Trump’s ‘dumb, dangerous’ NATO threat while urging fresh aid for Ukraine

President Joe Biden assailed Donald Trump for threatening to allow Russia to invade NATO allies while imploring Republicans to pass fresh aid for Ukraine.

“For God’s sake, it’s dumb, it’s shameful, it’s dangerous, it’s un-American,” Mr Biden said Tuesday at the White House, referring to the former president’s comments.

Mr Trump, the 2024 Republican presidential frontrunner, said Saturday he would not want the US to come to the defence of NATO allies who did not meet the alliance’s targets for defence spending if Moscow attacked them.

Mr Biden said those comments raised the stakes for the GOP-controlled House to approve military aid for Kyiv just passed by the Senate.

Mr Biden accused Mr Trump of viewing the trans-Atlantic defence pact as a mere “protection racket” rather than a linchpin of US national security and a bulwark against Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“The greatest hope of all those who wish America harm is for NATO to fall apart. You can be sure that they all cheered when they heard Donald Trump,” Mr Biden said.

“For as long as I’m president, if Putin attacks a NATO ally, the United States will defend every inch of NATO territory.”

Mr Trump, who made the comments at a rally in South Carolina, the next Republican primary state, has vowed to adopt an isolationist foreign policy in a second White House term.

Following decisive wins in Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada, Mr Trump is closing in on the GOP nomination and a rematch of his 2020 loss to Mr Biden.

A Trump victory in November could foreclose any future US support for Ukraine in the war against Russia.

Yellen Calls Trump’s NATO Dismissal a Threat to Global Economy

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Tuesday also condemned Mr Trump’s comments, saying they threatened an alliance that is central to global economic stability.

“Our alliances are utterly critical to our defence,” Ms Yellen said in an interview with Bloomberg News in Pittsburgh.

“I regard it as irresponsible, the comments that the former president made about our alliances.”

Ukraine Aid

Mr Biden urged House Speaker Mike Johnson to ignore Mr Trump’s broadsides and immediately bring up legislation providing $95 billion in assistance for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, saying “history is watching.”

“Supporting this bill is standing up to Putin. Opposing it is playing into Putin’s hands,” Mr Biden said hours after the Senate capped a gruelling all-night session by passing the measure 70 to 29.

The president said there was “no question” the Senate measure would pass by a wide margin if put to a floor vote in the House.

Ukraine Aid Crashes Headlong Into US House Standoff Over Border

Still, the legislation faces formidable obstacles in the lower chamber, even as Ukraine struggles with dwindling supplies, infighting among its leaders and an ongoing Russian offensive.

The package, which advanced after months of delay, includes $60 billion in war aid for Ukraine alongside funding for Israel and Taiwan and humanitarian aid for Gaza.

House Democrats, who are in the minority by a razor-thin margin, “will use every available legislative tool to get comprehensive national security legislation over the finish line,” Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said in a note Tuesday to fellow lawmakers.

Mr Jeffries could try to force the measure to the floor via a rarely used parliamentary procedure known as a discharge petition — if enough Republicans who support Ukraine join him.

That would mean crossing their own party leadership. House Republican leaders have demanded that Mr Biden first take action to reduce undocumented migration into the US before allocating any additional Ukraine aid.

Trump Tightens Grasp on Republican Party as He Nears Nomination

“America deserves better than the Senate’s status quo,” Mr Johnson said in a statement rejecting the Senate bill for not including measures to address the migrant influx at the US-Mexico border.

A painstakingly negotiated, bipartisan border enforcement deal was dropped from the Senate’s foreign assistance package after Mr Trump derided the compromise as a “gift” to Democrats.

Some Senate Republicans who support Ukraine aid in principle, including Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma, backed an idea Mr Trump floated over the weekend in a social media post that would transform foreign aid to Ukraine and other countries into zero-interest loans with no scheduled repayments.

Mr Mullin told reporters Monday he and other senators discussed the idea with Mr Trump earlier in the day, and said it could be part of a path for Ukraine aid to get through the House.

—With assistance from Steven T. Dennis, Erik Wasson, Roxana Tiron, Josh Wingrove and Christopher Condon.

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