President Donald Trump greets military families on the South Lawn of the White House, Wed., July 4, 2018, in Washington.

President Donald Trump greets military families on the South Lawn of the White House, Wed., July 4, 2018, in Washington. AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Trump Not Planning to Threaten US Troop Withdrawal from Europe; Solo Putin Meeting Was His Idea

Previewing the NATO Summit and Putin meeting, officials say Trump has the facts on Russian meddling, wants Putin meeting to start "dialogue."

UPDATE: This article was updated to reflect that the U.S. ambassadors briefing reporters were speaking on the record and could be named, not as anonymous "senior administration officials" speaking on background, as the White House originally had instructed.

President Donald Trump is not planning to threaten to pull U.S. troops from Germany and Europe, despite reports he asked aides about that possibility.

The clarification from the U.S. ambassador to NATO comes as Trump prepares to head to Brussels next week for the NATO Summit of heads-of-state. In the run up, Trump has renewed his criticism of some NATO members for not meeting the 2 percent-of-GDP pledge on defense spending, sending threatening letters to several of his counterparts.  

Trump's has steadily criticized NATO since early in his presidential candidacy, throwing U.S. support for transatlantic defense in doubt. After Trump’s administration began, senior U.S. and military officials have repeatedly said that the United States would honor it's "Article 5" commitment to defend NATO members and fully support the alliance, even though Trump has often suggested since before he was elected that the US may not come to Europe’s defense if those countries don’t start paying more of their share into the collective.

“There is nothing being said at all about the troop alignment in Germany or anything that would change the 32,000 troop force that we have in Germany,” said U.S. Ambassador to NATO Kay Bailey Hutchison, on a White House conference call with reporters Thursday organized to preview the July 11-12 summit (and following next week’s meeting between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, in Helsinki, Finland.) The call also included U.S. Ambassador to Russia Jon Huntsman. Both officials spoke on the record to reporters using prepared talking points. The call was then continued with two senior administration officials speaking on background, per White House rules. But the White House later released the full transcript of the call as on the record, with no explanation for the change.  

NATO is poised to stand up a new Joint Support and Enabling Command in Ulm, Germany, a step that NATO partners are expected to ratify during the summit, Hutchison said. U.S. ability to help defend NATO in Europe and launch forces from European bases remained essential, one senior administration official said. “It’s very important that that be the capability, to base and train, and to be able to deploy our troops in a safe way, which Germany is willing to help us do with this new hub.” On any suggestion of pulling back forces, the official said, “I’ve heard nothing different about that.”

Hutchison said she expected NATO members to adopt a list of actions furthering the alliance’s reforms, continuing missions in Iraq and Afghanistan, and branching into “hybrid” warfare of information operations.

“This is a very substantive and meaty summit,” she said. “I think it’s going to be one of the most productive that we’ve ever had.”

Related: NATO Will Outlive Trump (and Putin), Don’t Worry
Related: Trump Backs Russia on Election Interference Ahead of NATO Summit

After NATO, Trump will visit London and then head to the highly-anticipated meeting with Putin, where he will meet alone with the Russian president before the sides meet together with staff. It was Trump’s idea, said Hunstman. The American ambassador to Russia said U.S. officials, including members of a Republican congressional delegation of U.S. senators who visited Moscow, have continually pressed their concerns about Russian interference in U.S. and European elections, and look forward to starting a direct U.S.-Russian dialogue on a list of issues, including Syria and Ukraine.

“The ball really is in Russia’s court, and the president will continue to hold Russia accountable for some of it’s malign activity,” Hunstman said. “We are entering with our eyes wide open but peace is always worth the effort.”

On election meddling, the president to date has shown little interest in pressing Putin to do anything.

“The president will drive the discussion on malign activity and election meddling. He’s knows the facts and the details,” said Hunstman. “We all talk about it a little differently, but the president has talked about it in his own way.”

He said direct dialogue was important following Trump’s meetings with Putin on the sidelines of two world events.

“The president has determined that now is the time for direct communication between himself and President Putin, and that it is in the interest of the United States, in the interest of Russia, in the interest of peace and security around the world," said Huntsman. "And that's the way he's proceeding.”

Last week, Trump said, in a tweet, “Russia continues to say they had nothing to do with Meddling in our Election!”

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.