The exchange between Trump and von der Leyen at the World Economic Forum in Davos in 2020 was described by Thierry Breton, a French European commissioner responsible for the internal market, with responsibilities including defense, The Guardian reported.
“You need to understand that if Europe is under attack we will never come to help you and to support you,” Trump said, according to Breton, who was speaking at the European parliament.
According to Breton, Trump also stated, “By the way, NATO is dead, and we will leave, we will quit NATO.
“And by the way, you owe me $400bln, because you didn’t pay, you Germans, what you had to pay for defense," Trump added.
As Germany’s Defense Minister, von der Leyen was among European officials who pushed back at Trump on the issue of funding.
But threats to quit NATO, and demands that European nations increase contributions to it, were as much a feature of Trump’s presidency as concern over his opaque, apparently submissive relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Trump claims to understand the Russian president, who he says waited until Trump was out of office before attacking Ukraine.
In Brussels, Breton reportedly said Trump’s 2020 remarks were “a big wake-up call” and warned, “He may come back.”
The first contest of this year’s Republican presidential primary, the Iowa caucuses, takes place on Monday.
Trump faces 91 criminal charges, legal attempts to keep him off the ballot and assorted civil threats, yet enjoys huge polling leads over his closest rivals: Ron DeSantis, the hard-right governor of Florida, and Nikki Haley, a former South Carolina governor and ambassador to the UN.
Polling regarding a notional general election between Trump and President Joe Biden shows a close contest, with Trump often in the lead.
“Now more than ever, we know that we are on our own, of course,” POLITICO reported Breton as saying.
“We are a member of NATO, almost all of us, of course we have allies, but we have no other options but to increase drastically (spending on arms) in order to be ready (for) whatever happens," Breton added.