The Trump administration’s decision to pull approximately 5,000 troops out of Germany has drawn rare criticism from key members of the president’s own party.
The Republican chairs of the Armed Services committees in Congress, Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi and Rep. Mike Rogers of Alabama, said in a joint statement Saturday that the withdrawal could expose America’s allies to Russian hostilities.
“Germany has stepped up in response to President Trump’s call for greater burden sharing, significantly increasing defense spending and providing seamless access, basing, and overflight for U.S. forces in support of Operation Epic Fury,” they said, referring to the U.S. military campaign in Iran.
Removing thousands of American service members from Germany, the core of the U.S. military’s presence in Europe, “risks undermining deterrence and sending the wrong signal to Vladimir Putin,” said Wicker, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and Rogers, who chairs the House Armed Services Committee.
The statement is a rare rebuke of President Donald Trump, whose foreign policy and other decisions have largely gone unchallenged by congressional Republicans who have all but abdicated their war powers authority to the executive branch.
The statement also calls for the Pentagon to explain the decision to Congress.
“Finally, any significant change to the U.S. force posture in Europe warrants a deliberate review process and close coordination with Congress and our allies,” it says. “We expect the Department to engage with its oversight committees in the days and weeks ahead on this decision and its implications for U.S. deterrence and transatlantic security.”
Trump has been intensely critical of European allies for refusing to join his military campaign in Iran and for not heeding his demands to help the U.S. secure the Strait of Hormuz. European leaders have returned fire. Germany Chancellor Friedrich Merz said earlier this week that the United States was being “humiliated” by Iran, and Trump responded by threatening to draw down troops from the allied country.
In a statement on Saturday, after Trump made good on that threat, NATO spokesperson Allison Hart said the organization — which Trump has repeatedly threatened to leave — is “working with the U.S. to understand the details of their decision on force posture in Germany.”
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