Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned NATO members Saturday to take her one-time presidential rival Donald Trump's talk on the alliance "literally and seriously," as "he will pull us out of NATO" if he's reelected as president.
Clinton told attendees during a lunchtime session at the Munich Security Conference Saturday that Trump could even opt to refuse to fund the alliance, meaning that the United States would "be there in name only," reports CNBC.
Sen. Jim Risch, R-Idaho, the ranking member of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, dismissed talk of the United States leaving NATO, telling CNBC in Munich that it would take a two-thirds vote of the Senate to quit the alliance and "that is never going to happen."
This past week, Trump said that if he returns to the White House, he will not defend members of NATO that fail to meet defense targets, speaking a few days after he alarmed European nations with the suggestion that he'd tell Russia to attack NATO allies that he considered delinquent on payments.
For years, Trump has criticized NATO's failure to force members to meet their obligation to contribute 2% of their nations' gross domestic product to the alliance.
In December, Congress passed legislation to prevent any president from pulling out of the alliance without the approval of Congress.
Concerns about the continued cooperation between the United States and Europe have dominated the discussions at the Munich summit, not only because of Trump's words but because of the fate of an aid package for Ukraine in the GOP-controlled House of Representatives.
Several European leaders, including Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and German Chancellor Olaf Schultz, this weekend said Europe must become more self-sufficient, considering the doubts about the United States and NATO are growing with the potential of Trump winning in November.
However, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte called on members to "stop moaning and whining and nagging about Trump."
"No matter what happens in the U.S., ... we have to be able to protect ourselves," Frederiksen commented.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, meanwhile, told CNBC he believes the United States will stay a "staunch and committed NATO ally" no matter who wins the November election, as "it is in the security interests of the United States to have a strong NATO."
He also pointed out that while Trump is frustrated with the member spending levels, "that is now changing," with NATO announcing Wednesday that 18 of its 31 members will meet the 2% threshold.
NATO will celebrate its 75th anniversary with a summit in Washington, D.C., and Risch said he wants to see all members committing to meeting their spending targets.
"Talk about it happening years in the future isn't now, and we're always interested in now," he said, adding that it is helpful to the relationship that everyone keeps the commitments they already have made.