This is the best summary I could come up with:

Trump told a campaign rally in South Carolina on Saturday night that he would “encourage” Russia to attack any of the US’s Nato allies that he felt were not paying their fair share.

At the political rally, Trump – who is in the lead to be the Republican nominee in this year’s US presidential election – claimed that the president of “a big country” had asked him: “Well, sir, if we don’t pay and we’re attacked by Russia – will you protect us?”

In London, Peter Ricketts, a member of the House of Lords who previously served as the permanent representative to Nato in Brussels, wrote on X: “Not very plausible that the president of a ‘big’ European country would ask him that (or call him sir!).

Jan Lipavský, the Czech Republic’s minister for foreign affairs, said: “Nato is currently in the strongest position it has ever been, both because of the strong transatlantic link and because of the domestic deterrence and defence tasks that European allies are performing.

The White House spokesperson Andrew Bates, when asked about Trump’s comments, said: “Encouraging invasions of our closest allies by murderous regimes is appalling and unhinged – and it endangers American national security, global stability and our economy at home.”

In campaign speeches, Trump has remained sceptical of organisations such as Nato, often lamenting the billions that the US spends on the military alliance whose support has been critical to Ukraine’s fight against Russia’s invasion.

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