Former FBI official Phil Mudd explained why European leaders have ample reason to distrust the United States at the G20 summit in the wake of President Donald Trump's relationship to Russia.
In spite of his tepid condemnation of Russia for its incursion in Ukraine, many commentators -- Mudd included -- believe Trump is not likely to stand up to President Vladimir Putin over the Naval clashes.
That lack of confidence is likely to create a cloud over the G20 Summit in Argentina, the CNN analyst argued Friday evening.
"If you're sitting in the table over the next day or so in those meetings and have a conversation about Ukraine and what has been happening in terms of Russia's confrontation with Ukrainians, if you're British or German and look across the table and see President Trump, how do you trust him?" Mudd mused.
That reaction, he added, would be "based on not only this week, but what you have seen over the past year-and-a-half-plus."
"Are you going to say, 'this is the tradition of NATO, we're in this together and we have to contain the Russians, formerly the Soviets?" the intelligence expert said. "Or you do you say 'the counterpart who has been with us since World War II and before has more interest in cultivating Vladimir Putin than cultivating us?'"
"If I were in Britain or Germany, I would say, 'I don't know the answer to that question.'" Mudd concluded. "I wish I did, but I don't."
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