President Donald Trump deleted a sentence from his May 25 NATO address that would have reassured leaders the U.S. was committed to Article 5 of the NATO alliance, Politico reports.
The sentence cut out was: "We face many threats, but I stand here before you with a clear message: the U.S. commitment to the NATO alliance and to Article 5 is unwavering."
Trump's national security team had approved the speech and were dumbfounded that he had omitted the portion on Article 5, the provision in the NATO treaty about collective defense. European leaders were also surprised that Trump did not reaffirm his commitment to Article 5.
"I think it's extraordinary that there would be an expectation that the president would have to say explicitly that he supports Article 5. Of course he does," national security adviser H.R. McMaster told reporters after Trump's speech.
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