Donald Trump brags about trying to extort NATO following Ukrainian president's speech

Former President Donald Trump reacted to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's speech to a joint session of Congress on Wednesday by bragging that he had threatened not to protect NATO countries.

Just seconds after Zelenskyy gave a speech asking Congress for assistance, Trump released a statement arguing that he had strengthened NATO by threatening to undermine the alliance.

"People forget so quickly with the help of Fake News that it was me that got the 20 out of 28 delinquent NATO countries to start paying the money that they owed in order to rebuild a floundering NATO," Trump said in the statement. "Nobody knew things would happen so rapidly but NATO was poor and now it is rich and all of the Fake News commentators that said Trump was tearing down NATO should be ashamed of themselves for telling lies."

"Bush and Obama did nothing but make speeches and talk," he charged. "I acted, and acted strongly. I said to them, 'if you don't pay up, no protection.' They all paid up, and quickly. It's a story that's never reported but only because we have a corrupt press in our Country!"