she goes on to say that she -- she wants to influence decisions through engagement, which is basically bring our money here. >> bring your money here. >> all right, guys. thank you for that reporting. thank you for the great discussion. thank you for watching. we are waiting for president trump to arrive at the nato dinner. and wolf will bring that to you. he starts right now. ♪ hello. i'm wolf blitzer. 1:00 p.m. in washington. 7:00 p.m. in brussels and 8:00 p.m. in moscow. some early fireworks in brussels where the nato summit kicked off today. any moment now the leaders will be walking out for yet another traditional family photo opportunity and the welcome ceremony. we'll bring that to you live. stand by for that. with plenty on the table for the nato allies to discuss, president trump is pushing collective defense spending to the forefront once again. he's questioning the commitment of other allies, particularly

singling out germany. >> i think that these countries have to step tuit up, not over ten-year period but immediately. germany is a rich country. they talk about increasing it a tiny bit by 2030. they can increase it immediately tomorrow and have no problem. i don't think it's fair to the united states. now if you look at it, germany is a captive of russia because they supply -- they got rid of their coal plants and nuclear. they are getting so much of the oil and gas from russia. i think it's something that nato has to look at. >> let's go to our senior white house correspondent jeff zeleny from brussels. the president has been hammering allies for not meeting that so-called 2% threshold for defense spending. 2% of gdp, gross domestic product. but the president is now even asking them to spend more? what's the latest? >> wolf, he is indeed.

president trump asking leaders of nato countries to spend 4%, doubling the goal of 2% of their spending on defense. of course, that's an unrealistic goal of 4% because as the president has been pointing out indeed, only a handful of countries even meet the projected spending of 2%. this is largely a semantics exercise the president has been engaging in. essentially blasting all nato countries here. and just a few moments ago he sent out a tweet as well on his way to that dinner with leaders this evening. let's take a look at that, wolf. he says what good is nato if germany is paying russia billions of dollars for gas and energy. and he goes on to say only 5 of the 29 nato countries are currently paying their 2%. i'm struck by the beginning of that tweet. what good is nato. the reality here is the theme of this nato summit is strength in yu unity. the president is up ending the world order that has been in

place for the large part since world war ii. by going after germany directly, the president clearly trying to project, perhaps, or misdirect or deflect his own criticism that he indeed is too close to vladimir putin. that meeting in helsinki on monday with vladimir putin is looming large over this entire nato summit. wolf, despite the criticism and sharp words, foreign ally germany, the president did sign the joint communique here that is calling out russia for its aggression, for its invasion into ukraine, crimea and for its meddling in elections. so the president did sign that, something he did not do at the g7 just last month. angela merkel had an interesting response to all of this. she, of course, reminded folks that she grew up in east germany. she said she knows what it's like to be captive to then, of course, the soviet union.

so an interesting dinner on hand this evening as the president certainly setting the stage for more confrontation as he's done throughout the day here in brussels. >> a lot of tough talk already. jeff zeleny in brussels, thank you. before we go any further, i want to fact check these claims from the president that the u.s. basically supports nato and the accusation that germany is beholden to russia. our chief national security correspondent jim sciutto is with us. let's start with the president demanding that other countries pay what he says would be their fair share and they pay it immediately. is the u.s. being treated unfairly? >> well, this battle within nato is not new. successive u.s. presidents have pushed european allies to pay more, to contribute more. and there is some basis to that argument. i'll give you an example. this is the number of military transport aircraft. that's a key of getting forces into place to fight wars, to counter threats. the u.s. has more than 5,000, 5,200 transport aircraft. all the other nato members

combined have a little more than half that together. and it's this imbalance that successive u.s. presidents have tried to address. now if you look at the u.s. military budget, it pays 3.5%, a little more than that, of its budget. that's something of an unfair comparison because the u.s. has many military commitments far beyond nato, but when you look at that 2% goal, only a handful of countries meet that. greece, their budget is so small after the football criinancial . the uk does. estonia. poland. again, close to that eastern frontier of nato. it does. but the other big u.s. allies in nato, they do not. france is close. canada, germany, as the president likes to single out, is not. to be clear, that 2% goal, it's not a legal requirement. it's not aye treaty requirement. it was a goal established at the 2014 nato summit to be met by 2024, which is still, of course, six years away. they made that goal before they

knew a president donald trump was going to be elected and make this such a political issue for him. he's moving up that, not deadline, but goal line year demanding that those nato members meet that target. today you might say he's up ended it by doubling the target. clearly not a serious request but the president has made it. >> it's got to be 4%, which, clearly is not going to happen. >> what about the claims from the president that germany is, what he calls a captive of russia. what is he referring to? >> germany and a whole bunch of european countries depend on russia for natural gas. germany in its case gets about one-third of natural gas from russia. another third from norway. another third from the netherlands. if you look at the rest of europe, it's not that far out of whack. russia produces a lot of natural gas. the whole european union, a little more than one-thirtd. norway and some from across the

mediterranean in algeria. big driving factor here is cost. these countries, after russia invaded ukraine, they said we'll buy less russian gas. we want to be less dependent. the price of russian gas has gone down. they've been buying more of it. and a lot of that is an economic factor. i will say this. u.s. natural gas producers, they are desperate to sell u.s. natural gas to europe. they'd love to. the trouble is there's no pipeline from here to there. you have to liquefy it, take it across in big ships. that costs a lot of money. they can't compete with the cheap gas coming from russia. >> thank you, jim sciutto. the german chancellor angela merkel diplomatically pushed back on president trump's disparaging remarks about nato, reminding him of how the u.s. benefits from the alliance. >> translator: germany has to thank nato for a lot. for german reunification and for the reunification of europe.

that has a lot to do with nato. but germany does a lot for nato. we're the second largest donor of troops. we put most of our military abilities into the service of nato, and we are strongly committed in afghanistan where we also defend the interest of the united states of america. >> let's go to our chief international anchor christiane amanpour. the president has continually criticized nato allies for not paying what he calls would be their fair share. so why are his remarks today surprising? he's been saying very similar things not just for a few years but for the past few decades. >> well, look, that's right. he has been saying that. it doesn't make it any less surprising when he says as president of the united states into the face of his allies there. it's more to be honest with you the remarks he made about angela merkel and germany itself which was the other thing. the apples and oranges. we've got apples, which is the nato budget, and oranges, which is the pipeline.

calling germany a captive and controlled by russia. it is completely unprecedented language. it's the most undiplomatic language to talk to an ally. angela america whole grew up in soviet-dominated east europe, captive of the soviet union, of russia? and this pipeline, according to the russian foreign ministry, has nothing to do with the government. it's a commercial enterprise. and this is what the german defense minister told me about. this pipeline started some 15 years ago, way before there were any nato targets, as there are right now. listen to what she told me. >> first of all, this is a pipeline. this economic project started, i think, back in 2002 or '03. so way before russia changed its behavior in 2014. we have a very diverse mix of energy supply so the president

hasn't to be worried that there's any kind of dependency. on the contrary, if there is one person who has been dealing all the time with president putin very hard on the issues of ukraine and the hybrid war in the ukraine, it was chancellor merkel. >> so there she's addressing both issues. chancellor merkel has been the european leader who stood up very, very firmly to vladimir putin and all of this nondependency on russian natural gas. germans apparently take about 35% or so of their natural gas from russia. and we understand from what you heard jim sciutto and our own john defterios of cnn money have said it's mostly about, the president's complaints over this natural gas is mainly about a business concern. the united states would rather have that business action. the u.s. wants to be a big exporter of natural gas and they've had talks about this pipeline in the past and clearly wants to supplant as you've just

heard some of that. but all of this is incredibly acrimonious at a nato summit where expectations amongst the leaders there have been very low given what happened in canada at the g7, wolf. >> good point. christiane, how is the russian president vladimir putin, who is going to be meet with president trump in helsinki on monday, how is he reacting to what's going on now? >> it's hard to know how he's reacting, but we know that this is, as i put it to the american ambassador to nato, was this music to putin's ears? this idea that president trump is sort of the disruptor driving a wedge, what is perceived to be driving a wedge through the western order and western alliance which is something vladimir putin himself wants to do and it's happening, you know, thanks to the president of the united states. so i put that to her yesterday and this is what she told me. >> i think the discord is music to putin's ears, but i do think that coming from this summit,

which is allied, is strong and is going to increase our deterrent capabilities, that is going to, i think, put president trump in a very strong position with president putin. and i think he will be tough with president putin. >> so, wolf, to thread a very difficult needle there. she's admitting that this sort of discord is not helpful when it comes to a united front against vladimir putin and his actions. and, remember, this whole nato re-engineering of their budgets was because of invading eastern ukraine. she diplomatically tries to say all this bluster by president trump is a strategy with which to go into the meeting with putin for a position of strength. >> christiane amanpour, thank you very much. we're showing live pictures from brussels. the president and other members of the delegation are going to be arriving for this big dinner tonight.

we'll have live coverage of the photo opportunity. there you see the president and the first lady walking over. let's just listen in for a moment here if they say anything. ♪

>> well, clearly, we can't hear the small talk that's going on right now. they're walking in to this dinner. we'll have live pictures coming from there momentarily. but josh rogan, the headlines so far, 2%, not enough. there was a commitment that the nato allies made in 2014 over the next decade, until 2024, they'd reach that 2% of gdp goal for defense spending. now the president today all of a sudden says that's not enough. it's got to be 4%. >> what president trump is doing is setting unreasonable demands unilaterally and then insulting our allies when they push back against those demands. it's profoundly counterproductive. it has no chance of actually working. but what it does do is advance the president's seeming goal which is to further deepen the crisis between u.s. and our

european allies at this crucial time. and that problem is a continuation of the ongoing u.s. crisis with our relationships with europe that president trump has been intentionally public and privately feeding for months. this has our european allies totally flummoxed and in panic and you talk to any of them, they'll tell you the same thing. they don't understand why the president of the united states is insulting them, setting unreasonable demands and going out of his way to set bad optics at a summit of which the only point was to show unity of the alliance which is now impossible. it's really a worse case scenario for them and a worse case scenario for the united states national security as well. >> usually these nato summits are very nice and talk about substance. this is an extraordinary moment with the president of the united states showing up, even in advance, he's criticizing the nato allies and specifically today germany. >> it's quite extraordinary. and i think josh is right. there is a great nervousness in europe. not just about issues of how

much money they are putting into their defense budgets but really about the core challenges when it comes to the security interests of the west. whether it's the ukraine and russia's aggression. it's an annexation of crimea. what do you do next on syria as the war seems to be winding down and the russians seem to have won. what do you do next? what do we do next with the iran nuclear deal? the united states has pulled a rug out from underneath that. there's a huge split in what is the most important military alliance not just in the world but in history. and the sense that president trump has spent most of his time challenging the people who are allies. not putting on the table or for public discussion these critical issues that will determine the security of all these nations. >> max, they are trying to be diplomatic and nice about the words they're hearing from the president of the united states, the nato allies. i can only imagine what's going through their minds right now. >> i suspect the thought bubble over all the european leaders'

heads is why does he hate us? what have we ever done to this guy? why does he have it out for us? trump has various excuses for why he's attacking the europeans. he complains, for example, about the nord stream 2 pipeline which is a legitimate issue but he's not doing it in a constructive way to talk about how do we change the energy delivery to europe. he's doing it as a way to bash germany, just as he does with complaints about the defense budget and their spending which gives the impression the europeans aren't spending anything on defense, which they are. about $250 billion in spending. about 2 million troops under arms. the united states has about 60,000 troops in european. so it's not as if the cases that we're doing all the defense and they're not defending themselves at all. he never acknowledges the contributions they make in places like afghanistan, iraq and syria. he seems to be using these issues as an exdeuce destabilize the alliance and i think a lot of europeans are concerned he

wants to kill the alliance. so i think they are greeting him with great concern, as he is stomping across the continent. >> april ryan, you see more and more world leaders arriving for this traditional state dinner they're about to have in brussels over at nato headquarters. they're serve something champagne it looks like. i suspect some of those world leaders would like something a little stiffer right now. >> something to take the edge off. it's amazing watching the world leaders come in in their vehicles and still the power and strength to see the beast, the vehicle that the president of the united states comes in. it's still larger. it's still more, i guess, more forceful in its look. but in the midst of all of that, as we show a stance of strength, there's a word called division. and that division is punctuated by what he's saying about angela merkel. >> this is president erdogan of turkey. turkey is a member of nato, although there's a lot of controversy there. >> and division is punctuated by

what's being said. angela merkel, one of the veterans of nato right now, going against her and trying to basically throw her under the bus when it comes to russia as he is under a cloud with russia and getting ready to meet with putin. and also with what christiane amanpour said about president trump being a disruptor. european leaders have long said this president is a disruptor. i remember a couple months ago at the eu headquarters, eu -- the european union headquarters when we had dinner with the european union ambassador. and he basically said they do not know where president trump is coming from. he is a disruptor. and this just further puts a punctuation mark on what's happening in the last two days. there's no reason for this division right now when the world needs to come together at a time such as this. >> it's interesting yesterday, josh, the u.s. senate voted 97-2

in favor of a nonbinding resolution of total support for nato. house of representatives, i suspect, will do something very, very similar. why did they determine this is necessary right now? >> well, it's because president trump is simply outside the bipartisan norm of every u.s. president since world war ii. he doesn't believe, and he doesn't agree that the system of international alliances that has formed the basis of peace, security and stability in the united states and europe for the last 80 years is delivering the benefits to the united states. he doesn't believe it does more good than bad. he's alone -- not alone but isolated inside the national security community in that view. and there is a lot of people who are shocked and dismayed about that all over washington. 97 out of 99 senators as well and 98 if you count john mccain who i am sure would have supported that resolution. this is an unfixable problem. there's not an amount of

resolutions that are going to convince trump that our alliances are valuable to america. the first round couldn't convince him. doesn't seem like bolton and pompeo are going to convince him. if they're trying, they're not trying hard enough. what we get is a president who is just running roughshod, burning american credibility, burning america's reputation in europe and forcing all of these european leaders to come to a position where they have to oppose the united states because what the president of the united states is saying is so out of bounds and so insulting and so intentionally antagonistic. and that creates this really downward spiral in the relationship that nobody knows where it's going to go but it poses severe risks for our diplomatic or national security and economic relationships that we don't even begin to understand. >> that's very true because i think about 9/11. we had the world come in and walk with us and cried with us. and when something like that happens, and we are at odds with other world leaders and other world communities, what happens then? it's not about if but a matter

of when for something catastrophic to happen once again here. where would the world leaders stand as we're causing a division. they were our allies. they came and helped and brought the teams to help find people, rescue and recovery. they did so much. now it's like they're looking at us with a side eye like, can i trust you? >> there's a much bigger cost and that's europe itself is vajile right now. you have britain negotiating its exit. political division. the rise of more authoritarian rule in a place like turkey. so the fate of europe really, which is something we wanted to build in the aftermath of two world wars to make sure that there were no further wars in europe. so the cost of this long term, this is not something you flip a switch and repair overnight. you see the unraveling, whether it's the weakening of angela merkel who is in many ways the most outspoken voice for democracy. >> or theresa may. >> theresa may is in deep political trouble, which is our closest ally. so there are a lot of things

that the repercussions of this, meanwhile, as we belittle our allies, we strengthen the hand of vladimir putin. not just going into the summit next week, but it is long term. the fact that this was an alliance formed to confront russia and now we're actually helping empower it. >> it's really striking to me which european countries raised donald trump's ire. he keeps going on and on and on about germany which is our reliable democratic ally. he doesn't have anything to say about erdogan whom he's pals with. has destroyed turkish democracy and is getting close to russia. he has nothing to say about the governments in hungary and poland undermining their democracy. the governments in italy and hungary which are drawing closer to russia. those are the real threats to european unity as is europe, the british, the brexit crowd in the uk pulling the uk out of the european union.

that's something that donald trump encourages. and he constantly bad mouths europe as being as bad as china. he really stands in opposition to decades of u.s. foreign policy which was encouraged in europe, strong and free and democratic. >> they're mingling in advance of the state dinner at the nato alliance in brussels. we're going to take a quick broadcast and resume our special live coverage right after this. i landed. i saw my leg did not look right.

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speaking with melania trump, the first lady of the united states. they are having a little conversation. everybody seems to be having a little conversation over there, april. it is sort of a good feel bfrg they sit down for the dinner but behind the seen the, a lot of tension. >> i don't know how we're doing it. we just watched angela merkel talking to the first lady. we don't see her talking to the president yet. we might have seen that a little while ago. it's still tense but you have to keep -- you have to keep a stiff upper lip for relations in the midst of the moment of these arrows going back and forth. and you see the first lady melania trump talking with angela merkel. women talking to women. two powerful world leaders. even though melania trump is not an elected official, she is the confidante of the president of the united states, if you will. the leader of the free world at this moment. they are talking. that is a winning picture of sorts in the midst

anger, this tenseness. >> you saw the arrival of the president and first lady. they're going through a predinner reception and then sitting down for a formal dinner. the president's latest comments about nato, we shouldn't be very surprised because for a long, long time, he has berated nato, questioned nato, doesn't like the fact the u.s. spends so much of its gdp on defense. the other nato allies don't. we want to play a clip. this is more than two years ago during the campaign. i had this exchange. this is march of 2016. this exchange with the then republican candidate. let me ask you about u.s. participation in nato. do you think the united states needs to rethink u.s. involvement in nato? >> yes, because it's costing us too much money. and, frankly, they have to put up more money. they'll have to put some up also. we're paying disproportionately. it's too much and it's a

different world than it was when we originally conceived of the idea. and everybody got together. but we're taking care of, as an example, the ukraine, the countries over there don't seem to be so interested. we're the ones taking the brunt of it. we have to reconsider. keep nato but maybe we have to pay a lot less toward the nato itself. >> nato has been around since right after world war ii in 1949. it's been a cornerstone of u.s. national security around the world. nato allies hear you say that. they'll not be happy. >> they might not be happy but they have to help us also. has to be -- >> we are paying disproportionately. if you use ukraine as an example. the countries surrounding ukraine don't seem to care as much as we do. there has to be a change in philosophy and the cut out, the money, the spread. it's too much. >> you're suggesting the u.s. should decrease its role? >> not decrease its role but

decrease the spending. we're spending a tremendous amount in nato and other people purpo proportionately less. >> what do you say to allies who are watching? >> what, they're not happy? we're spending a fortune. we're spending tremendous amounts of money. and you look at countries that circle other countries. they're not as bothered by it. so you have to make them happy. but the kind of money -- we owe $19 trillion. going to be $21 trillion very soon with the crazy omnibus budget they just passed, which is ridiculous. we can't afford to do all of this anymore to the same extent. that was a different time, a different age. >> that was more than two years ago. he could be saying the same thing right now. >> so bogus, wolf. this is so ridiculous. he's complaining we can't spend the money to defend europe? you know what? he's busting the budget at home. he's doubling the budget deficit annually from what it was under

obama. we're spending all this money to defend europeans and they're not spending it themselves. we have about 60,000 troops in europe which i would guess means we spend about $60 billion a year on the defense of europe which is really the defense of american interest because it's in our own interest to stop russian aggression and the europeans stand with us. this is actually a great bargain because the europeans have stood with us for more than 70 years and this notion that we're spending 70% of nato's defense budget, it's true in terms of collective spending but most of our defense spending does not go to europe. it goes to dealing with china, north korea, iran, many other threats around the world where the europeans assist us. so if you look at this in terms of the substance, what president trump is saying is ridiculous. it is bogus. it is not factual. but what is true here is that he has tremendous animus against nato and our allies going back to the 1980s.

this is something he really, truly believe in and that makes him a very dangerous man. >> we'll get into all of that. stick around. a lot more we need to discuss. we're also waiting for the trg traditional photo opportunity at the start of the dinner. our special coverage continues right after this. trip. and at expedia, we don't think you should be rushed into booking one. that's why we created expedia's add-on advantage. now after booking your flight, you unlock discounts on select hotels right until the day you leave. ♪ add-on advantage. discounted hotel rates when you add on to your trip. only when you book with expedia. i couldn't catch my breath. it was the last song of the night. it felt like my heart was skipping beats. they said i had afib. what's afib? i knew that meant i was at a greater risk of stroke.

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shouldn't just be spending 2% of their gdp on defense, they need to spend 4% of their gdp on defense. what's your reaction? >> well, first of all, the united states doesn't even spend 4% of gdp on defense. so i think it's just a part of his parlor game of what he thinks is a way to get nato to spend more money. what the president mistakenly says is that, first of all, there's no nato ally that's in arrears. everybody is paying what they should be paying at this point. the 2% goal is supposed to be accomplished by 2024. eight countries are already accomplishing that this year. no one in arrears. and they started spending more before president trump cam along when they saw the invasion of crimea by russia. so the bottom line is, what strikes me, wolf, as someone who has met with many of the foreign ministers of these countries and others is that the president gives the back of the hand to some of our closest, longest

allies. and embraces some of the most authoritarian figures in the world. when he says that his visit with putin will be the easiest meeting he has. someone who is a thug and trying to undermine american democracy, that shouldn't be an easy meeting nor should it be chummy. >> why do you think your colleagues passed a resolution, a nonbinding resolution yesterday, 97 to 2 on the senate floor supporting nato right now. and just moments ago, the senate passed another nonbinding resolution, 80 to 11 saying before the president cites international concerns for imposing tariffs against various nations and he did so against canada and mexico recently, the senate felt it was necessary to pass this kind of resolution? both seemingly rebuking what the president is doing. >> well, no doubt it's a rebuke and it's an effort, particularly as it relates to our nato allies to let them know that the president's harang against them

is not the view of the congress of the united states as a representative of the american people. you know, it is critically important. it's why this congress, when it passed the countering americans adversaries through sanctions act didn't provide for waivers in sanksss. it made them mandatory and only coming back to congress can they be undone because they were worried about what president trump would do vis-a-vis putin and russia. it's a very strong statement. today, the senate foreign relations committee met and passed out, i think, 20-1 a very strong resolution on our support for nato. and it being a pillar. what's crazy, wolf, is i just saw a tweet by secretary pompeo that says nato is the most successful alliance in history and he goes on to say weakness provokes strength and cohesion. this remains our bedrock belief.

i just wish the president of the united states could say that. >> he did at the same time pompeo was tweeting, the president was tweeting. i'll read the tweet moments ago. i'll get your reaction, senator. maybe we'll put it up on the screen if we have it. what good is nato if germany is paying russia billions for gas and energy? why are there only 5 of 29 countries that have met their commitment. the u.s. is paying for europe's protection then loses billions on trade. must pay 2% of gdp immediately, not by 2025. that's what the president just tweeted. >> here again, first of all, germany is one of our strongest allies in our sanctions against russia. they have been part of leading the unity of the european union. the european union works by unanimity. it's hard to get every country to agree. germany has been a stallwart in keeping the sanctions against russia for annexing crimea,

invading ukraine for undermining our democracies through their cyberattacks and trolls. they're one of our strongest allies. the president just simply forgets in the 73-year history of nato, they were there after world war ii. helped us win the cold war. ultimately, the only time that nato has invoked that provision that talks about mutual self-defense among its members has been on behalf of the united states when we were tragically hit on september 11th. for 17 years, nato's allies and their sons and daughters have fought alongside our sons and daughters. many of them losing their lives. the president forgets all of that. whoonge >> what's your biggest concern about the upcoming summit with vladimir putin that the president will have in helsinki? that's going to take place on monday? >> my biggest concern is putin is kgb. he has a whole dossier. a whole sense of what buttons to push with the president. the president doesn't believe in that type of preparation. when he says that this will be

the easiest meeting, when he talks about russia as someone who is a competitor, russia is not a competitor. they are an adversary. they are a foe. anyone who tries to undermine our democracy who in essence created a 21st century attack through their cyberattacks against our democracy is a foe. and so when you go into a meeting and think of someone as a competitor, that's just about how are we going to strike a deal? i'm worried about what he's going to do in syria. i'm worried about him willing to give up on sanctions against russia. i am really concerned about how the president will unfold. and i hope he doesn't get to meet alone with putin because i think that would be enormously dangerous. >> his aides say they'll start these sessions, the first of the sessions one on one with only interpreters. yesterday the president was asked if putin is a friend or foe. he refused to say friend or foe. he's a competitor of the united

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so there you are seeing more live pictures coming in from the nato headquarters in brussels right now. the president and first lady are walking. they'll be going into a formal dinner tonight there in the next few minutes. and then you seeing the other world leaders there as well. they're chatting. very social. very nice. behind the scenes, a lot of tension because of the president's comments about nato specifically, also about germany

as well. raising all sorts of questions about the commitment to the nato alliance right now. kate bennett is our white house reporter in brussels for us right now. kate, talk to us about the first lady right now. she's there. she's made this trip. they'll be going from brussels. they'll be going to the uk. then going to helsinki for the summit with putin. a lot of travel right now. >> that's right. the first lady today had a much more cordial afternoon with the spouses today at a nearby music academy here outside of brussels. spent the day at a concert with other spouses like bridget macron and the partner of the belgian prime minister. we're about to see the president and the first lady make their way down this blue carpet after they're done watching the entertainment and make their way into the dinner at the museum here this evening. the two will then split off. there's a separate spouses dinner tonight the first lady will attend separately from the

president. having a working dinner. they are happening at the same place. the first lady has been practicing diplomacy of her own. she'll continue with the president on to london, scotland and helsinki before returning home. we have yet to hear from her. we haven't heard her say a single word in the press pool. no remarks. but she's here in a supporting role and the people of europe tend to support her as they did the last time she was abroad last year at the nato event. >> looks like she's had a complete recovery from the kidney surgery. >> she had the operation in may and her doctors gave her a 30-day no travel situation so certainly trips abroad, long plane trips were not possible. this is her first. we traveled with the first lady to the border in arizona last week and texas the week before. those were shorter trips. this is certainly her first

major visit abroad since having that procedure done on her nato. rebuke. she certainly looks well. tonight, she's back with the president, having spent the day apart at a completely different event on the other side of town from nato, a wooded setting, listening to classical music, doing chocolate tasting with other leader spouses, so a different kind of nato first day for melania trump than for president trump. >> she and her family are from slovenia, so she feels at home meeting with european leaders. let's take a break. we'll continue our coverage after this. with netflix on us. and right now, buy one samsung galaxy s9 and get one free. i never thought i'd say this... ...but i found bladder leak underwear... ...that's actually pretty. always discreet boutique.

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overwhelming air fresheners can send you running... so try febreze one. with no aerosols and no heavy perfumes. so you can spray and stay. all right. we're watching nato leaders getting ready to attend a dinner in brussels tonight at nato headquarters just outside brussels to be precise. they're all walking down the blue carpet towards the dinner. there will be entertainment. we'll watch it closely. josh rogue and, when the president tweets what good is nato if germany is paying rushes billions for gas and energy, what good is nato and he is raising that issue. what's your reaction?

>> i think it is important to say that some of the issues trump raises about nato, some problems are legitimate issues and there are legitimate grievances, and the alliance has legitimate problems that have gone too long without being addressed by both sides, but the problem is not with acknowledging the agreements, the problem is how the president is doing it. as we saw senator menendez say, and seen other republican leaders say, his constant insulting allies and praising adversaries is the wrong way to go about it. if he wanted to engage in a constructive solution to fix the problems of the nato alliance, he would be doing it in a different way. what he is doing is making problems worse. that is a problematic project. but if you want to persuade germany to do it, you don't stand up in front of the assembly and insult them. this is not an isolated incident, he has been attacking

merkel for months. there's no excuse for it. it is egregious and inexcusable. >> listen to bob corker, chairman, republican chairman of the senate foreign relations committee addressing the issue of what the president is saying about the nato allies. listen to this. >> anything that we do too stabilize nato helps him. you can express yourself without trying to tear down an alliance that's important to the security of americans. sometimes the rhetoric to me is just damaging to us and damaging to others unnecessarily, but i think there are ways of communicating with your friends, sometimes it feels like we punch our friends in the nose and hold our hand out to people that are working strongly against us like russia and putin. >> suggesting that putin is sitting back, russians are sitting back and are pretty happy when they see a rift

developing between the u.s. and nato allies. >> absolutely. what's most striking about today is that it comes just a month after the g7 summit which the president did the same thing, basically trying to challenge an appliance that accounts for almost half the economy, economic strength of the world. pulling the rug out from underneath it, kind of saying they're kind of our allies, but not willing to sign a communique, insulting the host, canadian prime minister trudeau. there's this moment, we all have to co-exist, whether as families, colleagues, as friends, we need others to survive. the united states is basically taking a position it doesn't need anybody now, whether economic alliance, military alliance, political alliance. and that it is willing. the president's two most important initiatives have been with north korea and with russia which are in many ways our greatest adversaries. there's no question that everyone in this town hopes for

diplomatic resolution to both adversarial relationships. the problem is you don't do that at the expense of alliances that have ensured our survival. >> and we have seen, max, a pattern, the president since taking office walking away from various international organizations, commitments, whether world trade organization, paris climate accords, nafta, says that has to be renegotiated if not done away with. how much trouble is nato in now? >> i think nato is in a lot of trouble, wolf, because of trump's an moss tee against our alliances and trade partners. at the same time he seems to have nothing but affection for vladimir putin and russia. let's not forget the elephant in the room. russia helped to get donald trump elected. is he going to confront russia about their miss behavior when -- misbehavior, about killing a mother of three in the united kingdom, about war crimes in syria and ukraine? very doubtful. at the same time, he is

confronting our allies with largely imaginary grievances. that's emblematic of his upside down world view which is the opposite of every other u.s. president going back to the days of truman. >> will he confront putin when he meets with him in helsinki monday and raise the issue of russian interference meddling in the u.s. election? >> if the past is indicative of what can happen the next few days, he will raise it privately and come back to the press and say i asked and this is what he said and i believe him. we've had that before. i'm going to say this, and this first couple of days overseas is not a victory lap for this president. and also if we're looking at what we're seeing is true, this president is now the albatross around the neck of nato. he's very good at division and us versus them issue and he's doing that now. he's had that winning picture, that stand in the family picture, one person in the middle. will he continue to be there

because he is causing that division in nato. >> what the trump people will say, this is a negotiating tactic, he is raising stakes to be disruptive to get things from allies. how is that working? where exactly are we winning? what have we gotten? what ends up happening, over time alliances are eroded. people see the actions of the president and make other calculations. he is forcing allies to hedge and look to other actors. when you see germany or eu or hungary look to russia, that's because they don't see a reliable partner in the united states. that gap in american leadership is being filled by our adversaries against our interest. i don't think that's even what president trump wants. >> he will survive because all 29 members want it to survive, including the united states. great danger is when trump sees putin, they get out, say something like we don't believe in meddling in other people's elections, make a blanket statement. that puts the united states on the same page as if we also were

guilty of something. >> what would our standing be in that core 29 after this session of nato? >> those alliances are not a birth right, they can go away. >> everybody stick around. there's a lot more news we're covering. special coverage will continue right now with anna cabrera. hello this wednesday. i am in for brooke baldwin. president trump kicking off his nato summit scolding one of america's closest allies, demanding all members pay up. >> i have to bring it up. i think it is very unfair to our country, very unfair to our taxpayers. i think these countries have to step it up, not over ten-year period, have to step it up immediately. >> european leaders expected tough rhetoric from the president especially on defense spending, but they may not have been prepared for this. at a welcome breakfast, cameras rolling, presi