Steve Bannon, the former chief strategist to President Trump, quipped that the president left the Group of Seven (G7) summit early this week because he was bored talking to allies.
“I think one of the reasons President Trump left the other day, he was bored,” Bannon said.
He added, poking at the other leaders in the G7, “what do they have to say? And they’re always snipping.”
The president left Canada a day early, returning to Washington in the wee hours of Tuesday morning because of the growing conflict in the Middle East. He is expected to go to the NATO summit in The Hague next week.
Bannon was responding to a question during a Christian Science Monitor event from a German reporter about why he thinks Trump is still participating in the such summits and if he thinks allies of the U.S. are doing enough.
“They’re allies? Remember — let’s be blunt about NATO,” Bannon said. “Did any of those countries really fight with us in World War II?”
“You’re not allies, you’re deadbeats. Please quote me — you’re deadbeats,” the former top Trump aide said.
Bannon called on NATO allies to prove they want to participate more in military spending, adding, “show me combat arms, show me military operations.”
“All the big talk you’re going to do in Ukraine,” he said. “They’re going to do Ukraine, all these troops, everything like that. I said, ‘They’re not going to send a troop because they can’t afford it, they’re all upside down on their economy.’”
The NATO summit is set to take place next Tuesday and Wednesday.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced earlier this month that Trump will attend.
