WATCH: Trump brags he told Europe he wouldn't help them if Russia attacked unless they paid more

On Thursday, at the Heritage Convention on Amelia Island, Florida, former President Donald Trump openly boasted that he threatened not to honor the United States' defense commitments under NATO, telling one foreign leader he wanted more defense spending or he would sit by if Russia attacked or invaded them.

"Everyone was delinquent, they didn't pay," said Trump. "And they asked me, one of the presidents of the countries at a closed meeting, 28 countries at that time, they said, well sir, are you saying that if — because they knew I was very unhappy, because we were paying a very, very, we were paying for most of it, in my opinion, but a very high amount, so we're defending Europe at the same time they're ripping us off on trade, very, very seriously ripping us off — and he said, does that mean that you won't protect us in case, if we don't pay? You won't protect us from Russia? Was the Soviet Union, but now Russia. I said, that's exactly what it means."

"Now if I said, no, I didn't mean that, why would they pay? So somebody had to say it," added Trump. "I was amazed it didn't get out. I was amazed, the fake news didn't pull it out. Maybe nobody wanted to talk about it."

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