Trump comments on Russia and NATO ‘appalling and unhinged,’ says White House spokesperson

US President Joe Biden slammed as "appalling and dangerous" comments by Donald Trump downplaying his commitment to NATO, warning Sunday that the former president intends to give Russian leader Vladimir Putin "a greenlight for more war and violence."

Biden spoke after Trump said in a speech Saturday that he would "encourage" Russia to attack members of NATO who had not met their financial obligations, his most extreme broadside against the military alliance he has long expressed skepticism about.

Those comments, at a campaign rally in South Carolina, prompted stark warnings at home and abroad that he was putting the military alliance in peril, renewing doubts over the US commitment to the mutual defense treaty if the former president and current Republican frontrunner wins in November.