A Pennsylvania Republican congressman says President Barack Obama’s leadership on foreign policy is “weak” — but still believes the President knows more about the subject than GOP front-runner Donald trump.
“Part of the reason why Donald Trump has picked up some of the momentum is because President Obama’s leadership on national security issues has been, frankly, very weak,” Rep. Charlie Dent told CNN’s Poppy Harlow on “CNN Newsroom” Saturday afternoon.
But when repeatedly pressed on which man he thought was stronger, Dent — who is backing Trump’s rival Ohio Gov. John Kasich — would only say Obama “has more knowledge about foreign policy.”
Which, Dent admitted, concerns him.
“Both have foreign policies that I would not agree with,” Dent said. “We need somebody in there who’s going to go in and reassure our allies that we will be there and yet talk in much more measured ways.”
But, Dent said, “John Kasich is the strongest of any of them, by far, of either party.”
Dent’s comments questioning Trump’s foreign policy credentials come a day after Obama attended his fourth and final Nuclear Security Summit, where he was asked about Trump’s recent proposal that Japan and South Korea should consider becoming nuclear states in place of U.S. military presence in the region.
“The person who made the statements doesn’t know much about foreign policy or nuclear policy or the Korean Peninsula or the world generally,” Obama said.