Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) surmised in a tweetstorm Thursday that Russian President Vladimir Putin was a “very happy man” after Donald Trump gave some startling responses to The New York Times about how he’d handle foreign affairs.
“I’m 100 percent certain how Russian President Putin feels – he’s a very happy man,” Graham tweeted.
Trump told the Times in an interview released late Wednesday that he wouldn’t necessarily help NATO allies if Russia invaded them unless they had “fulfilled their obligations to us.”
The comment came after Trump staffers worked behind the scenes to soften wording in the Republican Party’s official 2016 platform about arming Ukraine to combat Russia.
Trump’s top aide Paul Manafort was quick to the Times had misquoted the real estate mogul on NATO, but a transcript of the interview released by the newspaper backed it up.
Read Graham’s whole tweetstorm below:
The GOP nominee for President is essentially telling Russians/other bad actors the US is not fully committed to supporting NATO alliance.
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) July 21, 2016
#2 — NATO has been the most successful organization in modern history to provide collective defense for democracies.
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) July 21, 2016
Statements like these make the world more dangerous and the United States less safe. https://t.co/8hrywK6wEM
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) July 21, 2016
#5 — . I’m 100 percent certain how Russian President Putin feels – he’s a very happy man.
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) July 21, 2016
#6 — Mr. Trump has shown the ability to correct statements such as this. I hope he will do so tonight when the world is watching.
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) July 21, 2016
#4 — I can only imagine how our allies in NATO, particularly the Baltic states, must feel after reading these comments from Mr. Trump.
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) July 21, 2016
