Trump makes bizarre claim he ‘rebuilt floundering Nato’ in middle of Zelensky speech

‘All of the Fake News commentators that said Trump was tearing down NATO should be ashamed of themselves,’ former president says

Donald Trump issued a statement during Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s speech to Congress, in which the former US president complained of the supposed lack of reports that he rebuilt “a floundering Nato”.

“People forget so quickly, with the help of the Fake News, that it was me that got the 20 out of 28 delinquent Nato countries to start paying the money that they owed in order to rebuild a floundering Nato,” Mr Trump claimed.

Zelensky address before Congress - live updates

“Nobody knew things would happen so rapidly, but Nato was poor and now it is rich, and all of the Fake News commentators that said Trump was tearing down Nato should be ashamed of themselves for telling lies,” he added.

“Not only was the United States being taken advantage of by the EU on trade, but it was forced to pay the costs of the many delinquent NATO countries,” Mr Trump said. “Bush and Obama did nothing but make speeches and talk — I acted, and acted strongly. I said to them, ‘if you don’t pay up, no protection’. They all paid up, and paid up quickly. It’s a story that’s never reported, but that’s only because we have a corrupt press in our country!”

In 2019, a Washington Post analysis stated that Mr Trump “consistently misunderstands Nato financing”.

Mr Trump has been making inaccurate claims about the funding of the alliance since he was a candidate.

“Trump is simply wrong on direct funding and is imprecise and possibly out of date on indirect funding,” The Post noted in 2016 before Mr Trump became president.

Trump news - live updates

Nato is funded directly and indirectly, with direct funding being used for military operations, maintenance, and activities at the alliance’s headquarters. The direct funding is based on gross national income – the total amount of both domestic and foreign output by residents of a member country. This amount is adjusted on a regular basis.

Nato instituted the guideline in 2006 that member states should spend two per cent of their GDP on defence – indirectly funding the alliance via member states spending funds to improve their own defence. In 2014, three years before Mr Trump was inaugurated in 2017, and a year ahead of his 2015 presidential campaign announcement, Nato members pledged to meet the two per cent goal by 2024.

The 2014 move was in reaction to Russia’s invasion of Crimea and the war between Ukraine and Russia-backed separatists in the east of Ukraine.

Mr Trump “persistently claims credit for actions that were underway before he became president — and consistently misleads about where Nato funding was headed before he became president,” The Post noted in 2019. “Nato already was boosting defence spending before Trump arrived on the scene, it was not going down as Trump claims. Nato members do not owe money to Nato or the United States but are boosting spending for their own defence.”

This map shows the extent of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine (Press Association Images)

Mr Trump issued his statement as Mr Zelensky was speaking to Congress, urging lawmakers to remember the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour during World War II and the 9/11 terror attacks in 2001. He said Ukraine “experiences the same every day”.

“Remember Pearl Harbor. The terrible morning of December 7, 1941, when your skies were black from the planes attacking. You remember it,” he said.

“September 11 – a terrible day in 2001 when evil tried to turn your cities, independent territories into a battleground when innocent people were attacked from the air,” he added. “Yes, just like nobody else expected it. You could not stop it.”

“Our country experiences the same every day right now. At this moment, every night, for three weeks now,” he said. “Russia has turned the Ukrainian sky into a source of death for thousands of people.”

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