Speculation Arises That Putin Brought Up Montenegro During Helsinki Meeting With Trump

In his interview with Fox News’ Tucker Carlson that aired on Tuesday night, President Donald Trump was asked about the NATO obligation that member nations come to the defense of any member who is attacked. Carlson then brought up Montenegro, a small country that just joined the treaty organization last year, and wondered why we should heed the call and defend Montenegro if it came under attack.

“I understand what you’re saying, I’ve asked the same question,” Trump replied. “You know, Montenegro is a tiny country with very strong people…they are very aggressive people, they may get aggressive, and congratulations, you’re in World War III. But that’s the way it was set up. Don’t forget, I just got here a little more than a year and a half ago.”

Trump says he's bothered by provisions of NATO that require the US to come to the defense of other member countries. pic.twitter.com/2xY1FjBTSn

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 18, 2018

Trump questioning Article 5, which has only been invoked one other time when America was attacked on 9/11 and has resulted in over a thousand NATO casualties in Afghanistan, resulted in swift outrage and criticism. Besides noting that the United States has been the only country so far to have other NATO countries rally to its defense after an attack, journalists and observers openly speculated whether Trump’s comments on Montenegro were inspired by Putin during the two leaders’ secretive Helsinki summit.

CNN analyst and former Commanding General of U.S. Army Europe Mark Hertling called it “stunning” that the president was bothered by NATO provisions of mutual security before asking whether Montenegro being mentioned specifically came from the Putin conversation.

Stunning. The “provisions” are what makes it a mutual security and defense alliance. Alliance trust is gained in drops and lost in buckets. https://t.co/GFDyblqsuI

— Mark Hertling (@MarkHertling) July 18, 2018

I’m suspicious…but why did he specifically mention Montenegro, the most recent NATO inductee who Putin tried hard to stop. Think it came up in conversation recently?

— Mark Hertling (@MarkHertling) July 18, 2018

Just for a bit of history here, Russia has been accused of trying to overthrow Montenegro’s government via an alleged coup attempt in 2016. The plan included a proposed assassination of the country’s prime minister, largely due to him pushing to join NATO, which Putin has long tried to prevent.

CNN correspondent Jim Sciutto brought up that coup attempt when asking if Montenegro was raised by Putin in the meeting.

Did Putin – who attempted a coup in Montenegro in 2016 – raise this with Trump in their one-on-one? Here Trump describes them as “very aggressive” people who may do something provocative. https://t.co/WHHGrmQtKC

— Jim Sciutto (@jimsciutto) July 18, 2018

Below are other observations from analysts and reporters speculating that this idea came from Putin:

People are missing the truly frightening part of this clip.

Tucker & Trump didn't choose Montenegro out of a hat.

Three weeks before the 2016 US election, Russia attempted a coup in Montenegro to keep them from joining NATO.

Trump is explicitly inviting Putin to try again. https://t.co/YRZWl9rKQY

— Dan Lavoie (@djlavoie) July 18, 2018

It’s weird that Donald Trump had a long private meeting with Vladimir Putin and suddenly emerged with a newfound interest in undermining US security guarantees to Montenegro. https://t.co/I8msFXPN26

— Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) July 18, 2018

What are the odds Putin DIDN’T slip in the idea about Montenegro in that meeting.

— Jonathan M. Katz 🐱 (@KatzOnEarth) July 18, 2018

If Trump says this on TV – basically giving Putin a green light to invade Montenegro – what did he say to Putin in private? https://t.co/teJXtgyjj4

— Paul Begala (@PaulBegala) July 18, 2018

How likely is it that Trumpie had never heard of Montenegro before until Putin instructed him to raise a panic?

— Eric Gordy (@EricGordy) July 18, 2018

When it comes to his stance on Montenegro and NATO, President Trump is "again reciting Vladimir Putin's talking points," says @JohnAvlon https://t.co/c85n2TIleo https://t.co/t4YqO3akn1

— New Day (@NewDay) July 18, 2018

what's cute is how we are going to pretend Trump came up with this montenegro stuff on his own given it's geographic location! Putin's agenda is so obvious it's scary….

— Zerlina Maxwell (@ZerlinaMaxwell) July 18, 2018