WASHINGTON—U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), a member of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, on Wednesday made the following statement on the administration’s plans to remove thousands of U.S. troops from Germany:

“There is a reasonable case to make about right-sizing U.S. forces in Europe, but the way this was done is a slap in the face to our allies and hands an outright victory to Vladimir Putin. Unilaterally withdrawing U.S. troops from Germany, like Trump did today, is just an attempt to embarrass Angela Merkel, and is yet another example of this president dangerously exploiting U.S. national security for domestic political gain. We should be working with our transatlantic allies to counter Russian aggression, not gifting Putin a victory,” said Murphy. “I’m deeply disturbed by this troop withdrawal, especially as Trump refuses to raise the issue of Russian bounties on U.S. troops with Putin and continues to turn a blind eye to the Kremlin’s disinformation campaign to undermine our fight against COVID-19.”

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