HUNT VALLEY, Md. (TNND) — Sen. Mitch McConnell, the Kentucky Republican, confirmed his support for NATO on Wednesday.
He said in a joint statement with Sen. Chris Coons, a Delaware Democrat, that the alliance has underpinned U.S. security since its formation decades ago, when a group of nations sought to counter the Soviet Union’s threats.
“Americans are safer when NATO is strong and united,” the lawmakers said. “It is in our interest for all allies to tend this unity with care.”
President Donald Trump has considered withdrawing the U.S. from NATO, although he needs approval from two-thirds of the Senate to do so. He recently told The Telegraph, a British newspaper, that a potential U.S. exit is “beyond reconsideration” as some allied countries resist his calls to force open the Strait of Hormuz, a critical Gulf oil passage that has shut down during the Iran war.
“I was never swayed by NATO,” Trump said. “I always knew they were a paper tiger, and Putin knows that too, by the way.”
A 2023 law co-sponsored by then-Sen. Marco Rubio, who currently serves as state secretary, requires at least 67 senators to consent to a U.S. departure from the alliance.
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