Trump Nato remarks slammed by Biden as 'dumb', 'shameful' and 'unAmerican': Live – The Independent

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Former UN ambassador gave especially blunt assessment of Republican primary rival in latest interview
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Donald Trump is “unhinged” and “more diminished” than when he was in office according to former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley. She gave her blunt assessment of the former president in a new interview, making a similar critique of President Joe Biden, as she reiterated the need for generational change in US leadership.
Meanwhile, the verdict in the former president’s New York civil fraud trial will be known by the end of this week, with Judge Arthur Engoron expected to reveal whether the Trump Organization routinely inflated the value of assets to secure favourable terms from lenders. New York Attorney General Letitia James is seeking $370m in financial penalties.
Mr Trump has hit out at New York Republican Mazi Pilip after she lost the race for George Santos’s old seat to Democrat Tom Suozzi, labelling her a “very foolish woman” for not adopting his MAGA brand and for not understanding “modern politics in America”.
Elsewhere, the fallout over Mr Trump’s remarks that he would abandon America’s Nato allies in the face of Russian aggression if they did not meet their financial commitments to the military alliance was slammed by Joe Biden as “dumb”, “shameful”, “dangerous” and “unAmerican”.
Joe Biden on Tuesday (13 February) said Donald Trump’s comments calling into question the US commitment to defend its Nato allies from attack were “dangerous” and “un-American”. The former president, who is once again the front-runner for the Republican Party’s nomination, said on Saturday that he once warned that he would allow Russia to do whatever it wants to Nato member nations that are “delinquent” in devoting two per cent of their gross domestic product to defence. Mr Biden, speaking from the White House, called Mr Trump’s comments “dangerous and shocking.” “Just a few days ago, Trump gave an invitation to Putin to invade some of our allies,” he said. “For God sake, it’s dumb. It’s shameful. It’s dangerous. It’s un-American.”
Nearly two years ago, an elected official from New Mexico was convicted on charges for his role in the attack on the US Capitol on January 6, then removed from office under a constitutional clause banning anyone who “engaged in insurrection” from holding office.
The case of Couy Griffin, a now-former Otero County commissioner, is in front of the US Supreme Court, just days after Donald Trump challenged a Colorado court’s decision that disqualified him from 2024 ballots under the same rule.
Justices are scheduled to consider Griffin’s case in a private conference on Friday.
Alex Woodward reports:
Couy Griffin was removed under the same ‘insurrection’ challenge that also threatens Trump’s eligibility
Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has dismissed comments made by former US President Donald Trump about allowing Russia to invade Nato allies. “We should not undermine the credibility of Nato’s deterrence. And that’s both about the capabilities we are investing in, but also how we communicate, because deterrence is in the mind of our adversaries,” he said on Wednesday, 14 February. He added that Moscow should have “no miscalculation or misunderstanding” about Nato’s readiness to protect ally countries. It comes after the former president said that he would allow Russia to do whatever it wants to Nato member nations that are “delinquent” in devoting two per cent of their gross domestic product to defence.
Donald Trump has doubled down after his shocking comments about leaving European members of Nato to defend themselves against Russia were widely condemned.
Could somebody please inform our uninformable President that NATO has to pay their bills! They are right now paying a small fraction of what we are for the Disaster in Ukraine which, if we had a real President, would never have happened. There is probably a $150 Billion difference. They should equalize with the U.S. – FAST! The European Nations, when combined, have approximately the same size Economy as we do. They have the money. PAY UP!
President Joe Biden called Mr Trump’s remarks at a rally over the weekend “dumb”, “shameful”, “dangerous” and “unAmerican”.
Disgraced former congressman and serial fabulist George Santos trolled the Republican party after Democrats claimed his old seat in New York’s third district.
Democratic Rep Tom Souzzi – the man who represented the district before Mr Santos won in 2022 – won back his old seat on Tuesday night in a tight race against Republican nominee Mazi Melesa Pilip.
Mr Souzzi chose not to run for re-election in 2022, instead mounting a failed primary campaign to be the Democratic nominee for governor, which he lost to incumbent Governor Kathy Hochul.
Gustaf Kilander has the story:
‘#NY3 is #MAGA country and since MAGA was disrespected, MAGA stayed home!’ the ousted Republican representative ranted after Tom Souzzi won his seat
Fox host Shannon Bream sparred with Arkansas senator Tom Cotton on Sunday over whether the GOP had handed Joe Biden and Democrats a messaging victory by bowing to Donald Trump’s wishes and killing a bipartisan piece of immigration legislation negotiated in the Senate.
John Bowden has the story.
Former president’s turn against bipartisan immigration compromise left GOP moderates fuming, but impotent in his shadow
Republican senator minority leader Mitch McConnell has found his voice and denounced Trump’s threat to violate the Nato treaty after initially refusing to comment on the matter over the weekend.
John Bowden has this one.
Ex-president’s remarks reveberate around DC and leave Republicans on defence

In an interview with NBC’s Today show, Nikki Haley defended her past support for Donald Trump while offering some of her bluntest criticism of him yet, telling Craig Melvin of NBC News that the former president is “more diminished than he was”.
The former UN ambassador has long made the need for generational change a centrepiece of her campaign for the Republican Party presidential nomination, taking shots at both Mr Trump and President Joe Biden regarding their age.
When challenged as to how her criticism of the former president stacks up against the fact she was part of his administration, Ms Haley said: “During the time that I was in the administration, I called him out every single time.”
“If something was wrong — I had a conversation with him about Charlottesville, I had a conversation about something that he would say about women, I had a conversation with him about multiple things.
“The problem now is he is not the same person he was in 2016,” she continued. “He is unhinged; he is more diminished than he was, just like Joe Biden’s more diminished than what he was.
“We have to see this for what it is,” Ms Haley added. “This is a fact: He is now saying things that don’t make sense.”
Going further with her criticism of the 81-year-old incumbent president and the 77-year-old former commander-in-chief, she said: “You’ve got Joe Biden, where the special counsel said he was diminished, and he’s not the Joe Biden he was two years ago.”
Continuing, she said: “You’ve got a Donald Trump who’s unhinged, and he’s more unhinged than he ever was. And why are we settling for that when the country is in disarray and the world is on fire?
“We don’t want these two old men running. We want someone who’s going to go and fight for us and work for us, with no drama, no vendettas.”
The former ambassador has been focused on trying to break through the Trump-dominated primary with the next state up being her home state of South Carolina, where she served as a popular governor for two terms.
“We’re going to be competitive in South Carolina, then we’re headed to Michigan, then we’re headed to Super Tuesday,” she said, before acknowledging calls from Mr Trump and some others in the Republican Party to drop out, thereby handing the former president the nomination.
“We don’t pick kings. We don’t do coronations. We have a democracy where people vote,” Ms Haley said. “Why would I get out as long as we keep it competitive?”
The Never Trump Republicans obviously enjoyed being branded “perverts” by their nemesis on Truth Social the other night and have wasted no time in recirculating the ad that so infuriated him.
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