Furious Republican shreds 'weak' Trump over 'embarrassing' gift to Russia

A furious Republican lawmaker and military veteran tore into President Donald Trump during a recent CNN appearance, ripping him for being "weak" and calling his latest troop removal from Eastern Europe an "embarrassing" gift to Russia.

Rep. Don Bacon is a GOP congressman for Nebraska and previously served in the U.S. Air Force for nearly three decades before retiring as a brigadier general. He has emerged as a vocal Republican critic of Trump, repeatedly butting heads with the MAGA wing of the party and joining the opposition to his efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

On Monday morning, Bacon appeared during a segment on CNN's The Situation Room, where host Wolf Blitzer pressed him about Trump's latest military moves. The congressman reserved particular scorn for the recent announcement that a planned troop deployment to NATO ally Poland was being cancelled. Members of the Trump administration admitted to being "blindsided" by the news, which drew heated criticism from numerous Republicans.

Given its past associations with the Soviet Union and its border with Ukraine, Poland is considered to be particularly vulnerable to military aggression from Russia. Some experts have even argued that it could be a future target for President Vladimir Putin.

During his Monday appearance, Bacon called the opposition to this move a "bipartisan" concern in Congress, and hailed Poland as a "model ally."

"It's a bipartisan concern, andit seems like it's a smallminority position within thePentagon that has thepresident's ear to do this," Bacon said. "Andthe vast majority of republicansdo not support it, let alone across the aisle with the Democrats. We have received noassurances from the White House or the Pentagon about what is goingon here. They're being verysecretive [about] what this all means.And it's wrong. It's wrong toCongress. It's also wrong to ourally Poland, who is a modelally. They spend roughly 4.8 percent oftheir GDP on defense,significantly more than we do.And they've been leading theway and doing the things thatwe've been asking."

He explained further: "Last year, the Pentagondecided to withdraw anarmored brigade from Romania. There's three brigades that wereforward deployed. So that tookus down to two. Now they're notgoing to replace the brigade inPoland. So that takes us down toone. So they've removed two outof three. Or in the process ofremoving two out of three ofthese armor brigades, it sends aterrible message to Russia.They're giving zero concessionswhile we're unilaterallywithdrawing forces from Eastern Europe. This causes graveconcern to Poland, who count onthis brigade as a deterrence.Also causes great concern toLithuania, Latvia, [and] Estonia, whoare on the front lines and veryvulnerable. If we're going topull armor brigades out of Eastern Europe, there should beconcessions from Russia to dothis unilaterally."

Bacon said that the move "looks weak" from Trump, and in "the way it was donewith no warning to Poland, it'salso embarrassing." He also noted that leaders on the House Armed Services committee are "angered" by the cancellation and are considering future moves to restrict the president's ability to make such decisions, saying that Trump is "forcing our hand."