Republican senator from South Carolina, Tim Scott, on Sunday downplayed Trump’s recent comments about NATO and his reluctance to address the murder of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, instead praising Trump for making the globe a “safer” place while in office.
Navalny was not “safer” when he passed away on Friday in jail, according to Jake Tapper’s sarcastic rebuttal of Scott’s point. On allegations of extremism, the 47-year-old Russian opposition leader was serving a 19-year sentence. As of December, he had already been sent to Russia’s maximum security jail.
President Biden has attributed Navalny’s murder to Russian president Vladimir Putin, describing it as more proof of Putin’s brutality.
Among Trump’s detractors is GOP challenger Nikki Haley, who has demanded that Trump “call out” Putin over Navalny’s murder and the nearly yearlong detention of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich in Russia. Trump has remained silent on the matter.
Tapper shifted the spotlight to Trump’s divisive comments on NATO over the weekend. The president recalled an incident where an unnamed foreign leader questioned him about his threat to withdraw support from NATO members if their military budgets fell short of the alliance’s standards.
The CNN host, Tapper, aired a part of Scott’s speech about NATO from three months ago when the South Carolina legislator emphasized the significance of Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty. It says any military action against a NATO member in the Americas or Europe “shall be considered an attack against them all.”
Scott was 100 percent right when asked to clarify how his words relate to Trump’s remarks.
Scott made it clear that he believes Joe Biden has been dragging his feet from the start of the conflict in Ukraine. This comes after a string of unfortunate events, including the failed pullout from Afghanistan, the crisis in Ukraine, ongoing conflicts in the Middle East, and instability in the Indo-Pacific region.
Scott reminded Tapper that we’ve already supported Ukraine with over $100 billion.
Tapper did not address Scott’s point.
