Former White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Thursday that NATO has “valid concern” about the United States’s future commitment to the military alliance.
MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell asked Psaki, who has a show on the channel, about President Biden’s remarks Thursday seeking to reassure allies the U.S. won’t leave the alliance if Republicans win back the White House.
Psaki said the Biden administration had been working overtime to keep their allies on the same page about providing financial and military support for Ukraine in its war with Russia. But she said there was validity to concerns about the impact of a political shift in America on the alliance.
“There’s been agreement over decades on what our norms should be and what U.S. policy should be on a number of issues as it relates to the strength of NATO and what our values should be,” Psaki told Mitchell. “But that changed with Trump, and that makes a lot of our allies and partners nervous. You’re seeing that reflected.”
Psaki, who hosts “Inside With Jen Psaki,” said it is “not easy necessarily politically” to ask the U.S. and Europe to spend billions on Ukraine.
“And there are these valid and understandable questions about the long-term commitment of the United States because of what these allies and partners are seeing about shifting politics and skepticism, among some in the right wing in Congress, among some presidential candidates and that is a valid concern that the President is doing his best to try to navigate,” she said.
In a joint press conference with Finnish President Sauli Niinistö, Biden said the U.S.’s continued commitment to NATO is “the best bet anyone can make.”
“I absolutely guarantee it. There is no question,” Biden said. “There’s overwhelming support from the American people. There’s overwhelming support from the members of the Congress, both House and Senate, and both parties — notwithstanding the fact there’s some extreme elements of one party. We will stand together.”
“No one can guarantee the future,” Biden added. “But this is the best bet anyone could make.”
Biden’s emphasis on NATO unity has been a stark contrast to the Trump administration. Former President Trump suggested at times that the U.S. should leave NATO, complaining that other members of the military alliance were not contributing enough to defense spending.
Several NATO countries have since pledged to up their spending, but the results of those commitments remain mixed.