Sen. Tom Cotton, who will be speaking at next week's Republican National Convention, said presumptive nominee Donald Trump has brought up important issues when it comes to NATO, but he doesn't agree with all of his plans.
"Trump has cited a common problem that I, and many Democrats and Republicans alike have cited for years, that European NATO members are not spending what they need to maintain that common defense," the Arkansas Republican told
MSNBC's "Morning Joe" program.
"Now, his proposed solution at the time is not something I would support, suggesting that we should spend less or maybe we should leave NATO," Cotton continued. "I think since then, though, he has said, for instance, that NATO needs to be playing a stronger role in the fight against Islamic State, which of course, explicitly acknowledges the role that we play in NATO and the role that NATO plays in the world."
Cotton said he does not know which day he'll be speaking at the convention, but his address will be about the military, the nation's veterans, and what can be done about serving them. His name has been mentioned as a potential vice-presidential pick, but he said last week that he
hasn't been vetted and he's not in the running.
On Wednesday, Cotton, a member of both the Armed Services and the Intelligence committees, focused his interview more on military issues and advances in the Middle East than the Trump campaign.
The United States, said Cotton, has been making some gains with the Iraqi military, and Mosul remains the only major city under ISIS control.
But the gains have done "nothing" to stop ISIS external operations capabilities from Syria and Libya, "which is the next most dangerous and developed ISIS branch," said Cotton.
MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace, a former communications director for President George W. Bush, asked Cotton if his speech will be him trying to give "some credibility" to Trump's talking points on foreign policy, which she described as "sort of out of the mainstream of traditional Republican foreign policy."
Cotton said that actually, Trump's views are not that far away from traditional Republican policy, which calls for "a very strong military and a robust role for America in the world, but backed up with that military, hopefully without having to use the military."