President Donald Trump is conducting the nation's foreign policy like a "crazy aunt in the attic," rattling longtime U.S. allies, according to former national security adviser Susan Rice.
In an interview on CNN's "Fareed Zakaria GPS" aired Sunday, former President Barack Obama's top security aide criticized Trump for keeping important U.S. partners perpetually off-balance.
"A number of our closest friends and allies are off balance, unclear as to where we stand and what we mean," Rice said in an assessment of Trump's first 100 days in office.
"The United States is supposed to be the grown up at the dinner table, we're not supposed to be the crazy aunt in the attic."
For an example, Rice pointed to Trump's calling on key U.S. ally South Korea to pay for a missile defense system the U.S. is setting up in the country. Trump also said he wants to renegotiate or cancel a trade agreement with Seoul.
"The deal was they provide the land and the installation, and we would provide the system in its operation," she said.
"I’m concerned, frankly, that we’re hearing very mixed messages," Rice said. "We need to reassure and secure our allies, particularly South Korea and Japan, who feel most directly threatened by North Korea."
Rice’s assessment is the latest salvo in a war of words between the Obama White House adviser and the current administration. Earlier this month, Trump said Rice may have committed a crime by trying to learn the identities of Americans associated with the president caught up in intercepted communications related to Russia.
She's denied any wrongdoing.
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