United States National Security Adviser Herbert Raymond "H.R." McMaster said on Saturday that "of course" President Donald Trump supports the mutual defense doctrine of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
Speaking to reporters after the Group of Seven summit in Italy, McMaster said it is "extraordinary" that there would be an expectation that the president would have to say explicitly that he supports Article 5. During his speech at NATO headquarters in Brussels earlier this week, Trump did not explicitly mention that he stands by the doctrine, which stipulates that an attack on one member of the alliance is viewed as an attack on all.
However, the adviser said that Trump did not make a conscious decision not to mention the article, as his support for it was "implicit" in his speech.
