Trump Kicks Off NATO Summit With Breakfast Rant: 'Germany Is A Captive Of Russia'

President Donald Trump on Wednesday kicked off what is shaping up to be a contentious NATO summit by lashing out at Germany, saying the country is captive to Russia because of a gas pipeline deal.

In a bilateral breakfast meeting with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, in front of reporters, Trump immediately launched into a tirade about the pipeline.

Its very sad when Germany makes a massive oil and gas deal with Russia where were supposed to be guarding against Russia and Germany goes out and pays billions and billions of dollars a year to Russia, he said.

If you look at it, Germany is a captive of Russia, because they supply they got rid of their coal plants, got rid of their nuclear, theyre getting so much of the oil and gas from Russia, he added. I think its something NATO has to look at.

Germany is totally controlled by Russia, cause they are getting 60 to 70 percent of their energy from Russia and a new pipeline, he said.

\"Germany is totally controlled by Russia,\" Pres. Trump tells NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg as they sit down together for bilateral breakfast ahead of Brussels summit. https://t.co/CmyplgrxzN pic.twitter.com/6RnFk8Drgs

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"Germany is totally controlled by Russia," Pres. Trump tells NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg as they sit down together for bilateral breakfast ahead of Brussels summit. https://t.co/CmyplgrxzN pic.twitter.com/6RnFk8Drgs
ABC News (@ABC) July 11, 2018

Trumps comments referred to Berlins support for the construction of the $12 billion Nord Stream 2 pipeline to bring gas across the Baltic Sea into the European continent. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said that the project is merely commercial, but the U.S. and other European Union members believe the pipeline could be a geopolitical incursion by Russia.

Stoltenberg responded by emphasizing NATOs unity.

NATO is an an alliance of 29 nations and sometimes there are differences and different views and also some disagreements, and the gas pipeline from Russia to Germany is one issue where allies disagree, said Stoltenberg.

Trump is in Brussels for the NATO summit on Wednesday and Thursday, then will spend Friday and the weekend on a working visit to the UK , then will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki on Monday.

There are concerns that Trump will alienate NATO members traditional allies of the U.S. while cozying up to Putin.

Ahead of the NATO summit, Trump sent letters to allies Merkel, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Prime Minister Charles Michel of Belgium blasting them for not spending enough on defense an oft-repeated criticism of the alliance. Meanwhile, he told reporters on Tuesday that his meeting with Putin may be the easiest of them all.

Trumps continued downplaying of Russian election interference has also deviated from broader international attitudes.

Russia continues to say they had nothing to do with Meddling in our Election!, he tweeted last month before tearing into the FBI and its former director James Comey. The U.S. intelligence community, backed by a Republican-led Senate panel, has definitively concluded that Kremlin meddled in the 2016 election to help Trump win.

Trump also called Putin fine in a fiery speech last week in which he also attacked European allies.

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Back in the U.S., the Senate on Tuesday voted 97-2 on a motion of support for NATO.

Unfortunately, this motion has become necessary because some of our closest allies have come to question the US commitment to collective self-defense. President Trump has at times called the alliance obsolete. Our allies are starting to wonder whether they can rely on the United States to come to their defense in a crisis, said Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.), who authored the nonbinding motion.