In an interview, Trump appears to question NATO's "collective defense" clause: NPR

President Trump receives a strong reaction after the Fox News interview on the need to honor NATO's collective defense clause, while suggesting that Montenegro is a country of " aggressive people "that could trigger the third world war.

A NATO official quoted by the German news agency DPA said that Article 5 of the alliance charter – which states that an attack against a member is an attack against all – remains "unconditional and rigid".

A politician in Montenegro questioned the president's knowledge of foreign policy and Senator John McCain accused him of "playing in Putin's hands".

Trump's comments are part of an interview aired Tuesday night on Fox News. which was recorded earlier in Helsinki, the site of the controversial Trump summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

In this one, host Carl son asked a hypothetical question: "Let's say that Montenegro, which joined last year, is attacked. he go to Montenegro to defend him against the attack? "(You can see the exchange in the video above, from about 1:52.)

Trump replied: "I understand what you are saying, I asked the same question, you know that Montenegro is a small country with very strong people."

Carlson: "And I'm not against Montenegro. Albania. "

The president then turned the premise of the issue, placing Montenegro – a country of about 620,000 people who joined NATO just a year ago – in the role of aggressor.

By the way, they are very strong people, "he said of the Balkan country. They are very aggressive people. They can become aggressive and, congratulations, you are in the third world war. "

" But that's how it was put together, "Trump continued, apparently referring to Article 5.

Trump's comments follow a NATO summit in Brussels in which he publicly harbaded the secretary-general of the alliance, following remarks made by the president at a conference in Brussels. The President's representation in Montenegro has hit a nerve in the country, especially since Russia strongly opposed the country's adherence to NATO and "Russian". State organs "are involved in a conspiracy in October 2016 to overthrow the government of Montenegro and badbadinate its Prime Minister.

(And then there was the infamous meeting between Trump and the Prime Minister of Montenegro at a NATO meeting last year in Brussels – where Trump pushes Duško Marković for better positioned in front of the cameras.)

Arizona Senator McCain, in a tweet on Wednesday, rebuked the president for his comments, saying that "#Putin will do everything to break the transatlantic alliance" in a tweet that points to an editorial he wrote on the plot of the coup d'etat in Montenegro which was published last year in USA Today. In a separate tweet, McCain said, "By attacking Montenegro and challenging our obligations to NATO, the president is playing Putin's game."

S addressing to the BBC, Ranko Krivokapic, who is chairman of the Social Party -Democratic opposition of Montenegro, called Trump "the strangest president in the history of the United States."

"With this kind of president, with his knowledge of foreign policy, who knows what's going on?" Foreign policy is not his big thing, Krivokapic said.

NATO's collective defense clause was activated only once in the nearly 70-year history of the alliance – following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 against the United States