Trump will be BLOCKED from pulling U.S. out of NATO in second term after Congress passes bill to stop any future president leaving key military alliance without Senate approval

A provision in the National Defense Authorization Act would prevent former President Donald Trump from unilaterally withdrawing the US from NATO if he is re-elected next fall.

A bipartisan team of Republican Senator Marco Rubio and Democratic Senator Tim Kaine included the provision in the $886 billion defense bill passed by the House of Representatives on Thursday.

The Senate passed its version Wednesday evening and President Joe Biden is expected to sign the bill into law.

Rubio and Kaine's provision requires the president to seek the advice and consent of the Senate before suspending, terminating or withdrawing the U.S. from NATO — a key military alliance aimed at deterring Russian aggression.

If a president attempts to leave NATO without Senate approval or other act of Congress, the provision prohibits any funding for such a move.

A provision in the just-passed $886 billion defense bill will not allow US presidents — including former President Donald Trump if re-elected — to unilaterally pull the country out of NATO, as Trump has threatened

NATO – the North Atlantic Treaty Organization – is an important American military alliance aimed at deterring Russian aggression. NATO officials gathered in Brussels, Belgium last month for a meeting at headquarters

It also authorizes Congress' legal counsel to sue the White House.

In October, Rolling Stone reports this that Trump, the front-runner for the 2024 Republican nomination, has stayed afloat by pulling the US out of NATO – something he had considered during his time in office but which senior advisers balked at.

Trump has complained about Article 5, the collective defense clause, which would draw the US into a military conflict if NATO member states were attacked.

A former official recalled to Rolling Stone that Trump argued during an Oval Office meeting in mid-2018 that most Americans had never heard of some of the smaller countries.

Senator Tim Kaine credited NATO for standing strong against Russian President Vladimir Putin's (pictured) war in Ukraine

“In a second Trump term, we would almost certainly withdraw from NATO,” Trump's former national security adviser John Bolton predicted in his speech. an interview with De Heuvel in August.

Bolton has become a critic of Trump and has suggested that Trump never understood NATO's defense spending requirements, which the Republican ex-president often complained about.

NATO requires members to spend at least two percent of their gross domestic product on defense spending, but in Trump's eyes the US owes money, which is not the case.

'The good old US 'suckers' pay a HUGE majority of NATO's bill, and outside money, to Ukraine. VERY DISFAIR!' Trump posted on his Truth Social network in January.

And during his CNN town hall in August, Trump said he told NATO members, “I will not protect you from Russia” if they are “delinquent” on defense spending.

President Joe Biden's administration, by contrast, has strengthened NATO and credited the alliance with now allowing Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine to cross other countries' borders.

“NATO has stood firm in response to Putin's war in Ukraine and mounting challenges around the world,” Kaine reiterated in a statement Thursday. “Today's Senate vote to pass my bipartisan bill to prevent any U.S. president from unilaterally withdrawing from NATO reaffirms U.S. support for this critical alliance that is fundamental to our national security.”

“It also sends a strong message to authoritarians around the world that the free world remains united,” Kaine said.

Rubio added that the “Senate must oversee whether or not our country withdraws from NATO.”

“We must ensure we protect our national interests and protect the security of our Democratic allies,” the Florida Republican added.