President Trump Chastises NATO Members On Defense Spending, Condemns Leaks

BRUSSELS, BELGIUM — President Trump chastised American allies in NATO Thursday, arguing in a speech at the organization's headquarters that member states who do not spend at least 2 percent of their GDP on defense spending treat the American people unfairly. Earlier in the day, he denounced the continuing leaks of sensitive information from American officials.

"Member nations are still not paying what they should be paying and what they’re supposed to be paying for their defense," Trump said. "This is not fair to the people and taxpayers of the United States. And many of these nations owe massive amounts of money from past years and not paying in those past years. Over the last eight years, the United States spent more on defense than all other NATO countries combined." (For more information on this and other political stories, subscribe to the White House Patch for daily newsletters and breaking news alerts.)

These remarks came at the ceremonial unveiling of NATO's Article 5, which is considered to be the most central defining feature of the treaty, as it requires all member states to treat an attack against one as an attack against all. This agreement helped solidify the alliance in opposition to the growing power of the Soviet Union, and later, Russia.

Trump did not mention Article 5 during his remarks, which some observers thought might be a subtle way of hinting that he doesn't support the principle. However, Jennifer Jacobs of Bloomberg later said Press Secretary Sean Spicer noted that there was no hidden message in the speech and that the U.S. stands behind Article 5 "100 percent."

"Trump’s first NATO meeting was an opportunity to unite the Alliance. Unfortunately, NATO today is more divided than ever," former U.S. Ambassador to NATO Ivo Daadler wrote on Twitter after the speech.

Trump's attitude toward NATO was a major issue during the 2016 campaign, when he called the treaty organization "obsolete." He has been particularly critical of member states that do not pay their full share of the organization's budget. The president has since said that NATO is no longer obsolete after a meeting with the organization's Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. In that meeting, Trump encouraged states to live up to their financial obligations and insisted that the organization focus more on fighting terrorism.

Trump also denounced leaks of sensitive intelligence on Thursday.

"The alleged leaks coming out of government agencies are deeply troubling," Trump said earlier in the day. "These leaks have been going on for a long time and my administration will get to the bottom of this. The leaks of sensitive information pose a grave threat to our national security."

The British government has suspended intelligence sharing with the United States related to the Manchester bombing after American officials leaked details about the bomber's identity without approval. Trump has also been besieged at home with leaks from his administration, many of which have generated negative press and reflected poorly on the president. Meanwhile, the president himself has been accused of leaking sensitive Israeli intelligence to the Russians that, while not necessarily illegal, troubled many in the intelligence community and that reports suggest angered Israeli officials.

"I am asking the Department of Justice and other relevant agencies to launch a complete review of this matter, and if appropriate, the culprit should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law," Trump said, regarding the British intelligence leaks. "There is no relationship we cherish more than the Special Relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom."

Attorney General Jeff Sessions released a statement saying he had spoken with is British counterpart and the Department of Justice is moving to investigate what happened.

"These leaks cannot be tolerated and we will make every effort to put an end to it," Sessions said. "We have already initiated appropriate steps to address these rampant leaks that undermine our national security.

Watch the ceremony below.

Photo by Ilia Yefimovich/Getty Images