Rep. Peter King told
Newsmax TV on Tuesday that he disagreed with Republican front-runner Donald Trump on cutting back on NATO funding in light of the Brussels attacks, though "I would attempt to restructure it."
"I do have real problems with NATO in that they, in many ways, they've fallen behind," the New York congressman, who sits on the House Intelligence Committee, told "The Steve Malzberg Show" in an interview.
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"Their defense budgets," he added. "Those countries have defense budgets and far lower proportionately.
"I would not take NATO down. I would attempt to restructure it. That's why we need leadership.
"That's why we need the American president to show leadership, rather than watching a baseball game in Cuba."
King further slammed President Barack Obama for his "perfunctory statement" from Cuba on Tuesday's assaults that killed at least 31 people and injured as many as 230 others and said that he should cancel his trip to Argentina to meet with world allies because "of the war we're in and again show some leadership.
"Not talk about how we have to reach out and work together and all that stuff," he told Malzberg. "No. Reaffirm leadership from the U.S.
"There has to be a wake-up call to people that the enemy is Islamist terrorism, that's going to be here for a long time, that we can't be shaking hands with it or be nice to them and hope it will go away.
"This is an enemy that is willing and able to strike at almost any time."
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