GOP CONVENTION | Graham: Trump’s NATO remark makes Putin 'happy'

CLEVELAND (AP) — Sen. Lindsay Graham says Donald Trump’s suggestion that the U.S. might not defend some NATO allies if Russia were to attack make the world “more dangerous” and Russian President Vladimir Putin “a very happy man.”

Graham, an outspoken Trump critic, said in a statement Thursday that the Republican presidential nominee is suggesting to the Russians and “other bad actors that the United States is not fully committed to supporting the NATO alliance.”

Trump told the New York Times late Wednesday that he would decide whether to protect the Baltic republics against Russian aggression based on whether those countries “have fulfilled their obligations to us.”

Trump is scheduled to deliver a speech Thursday formally accepting the Republican nomination for president.