*[image: https://thehill.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/mcconnellmitch_012325gn03_w.jpg]* <thehill.com/homenews/senate/5206464-mcconnell-nato-leadership-trump/?email=467cb6399cb7df64551775e431052b43a775c749&emaila=12a6d4d069cd56cfddaa391c24eb7042&emailb=054528e7403871c79f668e49dd3c44b1ec…>
*© Greg Nash*
*He issued the words of caution after reports that the Pentagon is looking at restructuring U.S. combatant commands and is studying a proposal for Washington to give up its long-held role as NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Europe for the first time in the alliance’s 75-year history. *
*“Weakening American leadership won’t strengthen NATO or U.S. interests. If we’re serious about encouraging more capable European allies, retreating from our position as the leader of the trans-Atlantic alliance would be an odd way to show it,” McConnell <thehill.com/people/mitch-mcconnell/>said in a statement Thursday afternoon.*
*McConnell warned at a press conference in Kentucky earlier this week that Russia and its allies, including China, continue to pose a serious risk to U.S. interests.*
*“What we want to avoid here is a headline that says, ‘Russia Wins and America Loses,’” McConnell told local reporters on the same day President Trump had a lengthy phone call <thehill.com/homenews/administration/5201481-trump-putin-phone-call-takeaways/?email=467cb6399cb7df64551775e431052b43a775c749&emaila=12a6d4d069cd56cfddaa391c24eb7042&emailb=054528e7403871c79f668e49d…> with Russian President <thehill.com/people/vladimir-putin/?email=467cb6399cb7df64551775e431052b43a775c749&emaila=12a6d4d069cd56cfddaa391c24eb7042&emailb=054528e7403871c79f668e49dd3c44b1ec00c7f611bf9388f76bb2324d6ca5f3&utm…>Vladimir Putin.*
*He called on Congress to increase defense spending and for the United States to increase its commitment to NATO.*
*Senate Armed Services Committee Chair Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) and House Armed Services Committee Chair Mike Rogers (R-Ala.) a day earlier also pushed back on the possibility <thehill.com/policy/defense/5204366-gop-chairmen-rogers-wicker-trump-nato-command/?email=467cb6399cb7df64551775e431052b43a775c749&emaila=12a6d4d069cd56cfddaa391c24eb7042&emailb=054528e7403871c79f668…> that the United States might give up military command of NATO.*
*“We are very concerned about reports that claim [the Defense Department] is considering unilateral changes on major strategic issues, including significant reductions to U.S. forces stationed abroad, absent coordination with the White House and Congress,” they said in a joint statement.*
*While the GOP chairs said they support Trump’s efforts to prod European allies to increase their defense spending, they warned that Congress must be a part of any major changes to combatant commands.*
*Read the full report at TheHill.com <thehill.com/homenews/senate/5206464-mcconnell-nato-leadership-trump/?email=467cb6399cb7df64551775e431052b43a775c749&emaila=12a6d4d069cd56cfddaa391c24eb7042&emailb=054528e7403871c79f668e49dd3c44b1ec…>.*
*https://thehill.com/newsletters/5206676-lawmakers-worry-us-will-give-up-military-command-of-nato/ <thehill.com/newsletters/5206676-lawmakers-worry-us-will-give-up-military-command-of-nato/>*
