McConnell joins Democrats to defend US NATO membership
by Sarah Davis - 04/01/26 11:09 PM ET
Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) joined Democratic lawmakers in supporting the U.S.’s membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), after President Trump said he was considering withdrawing from the alliance.
“NATO is the most successful military alliance in history. It has underpinned the security of the United States for more than 70 years,” McConnell said in a joint statement with Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) on Wednesday.
The U.S. is one of NATO’s 12 original founding members, having signed the agreement in 1949. Trump told The Telegraph in an interview published on Wednesday that the U.S’s exit from the alliance is “beyond consideration.”
“I was never swayed by NATO,” he told the outlet. “I always knew they were a paper tiger, and [Russian President Vladimir] Putin knows that too, by the way.”
The president has previously criticized the alliance for their reluctance to support the U.S.’s ongoing military operations against Iran, labeling them “cowards.”
“They didn’t want to join the fight to stop a Nuclear Powered Iran,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post last month. “Now that fight is Militarily WON, with very little danger for them.”
McConnell is the chair, and Coons is the ranking member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense.
more
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/5812334-mcconnell-joins-democrats-to-defend-us-nato-membership/
