Trump to demand allies pay more in White House showdown with NATO chief

President Donald Trump meets NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte (below) at the White House today.

Trump has consistently criticized other members of the alliance for failing to meet the 2 percent of GDP benchmark for military spending.

He has recently said the U.S. would not defend members who ‘did not pay’.

Article 5 of the organization’s founding treaty says all members will come to the defense of another member in the case of an attack.

The White House is planning to withdraw the nomination of Trump’s pick for CDC director reportedly because of his anti-vaccine views.

Dr Dave Weldon, a former congressman from Florida, was tapped by President Donald Trump to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and scheduled to have his confirmation hearing Thursday morning in front of the Senate Health Committee.

However, people familiar with the situation told Axios the Trump administration had concerns over Dr Weldon’s longtime criticism of vaccines and another said the White House pulled the nomination because they knew he wouldn’t get the votes.

They even created a ‘human shield’ around Trump during the flight to Georgia to guarantee that some ‘problem’ advisers couldn’t get in his ear.

‘The debate was a few hours away, and the aides knew that even if they felt they had everything locked up, that meant there was, as always, still plenty of time for someone to feed him bad advice,’ Isenstadt wrote.