BLUSTER

Trump Threatens to End U.S. Aid to Critics Over U.N. Jerusalem Vote

“Well, we’re watching those votes. Let them vote against us, we’ll save a lot.”

President Trump on Wednesday threatened to cut off aid to countries that vote in favor of a U.N. resolution condemning the White House’s recent decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Speaking at a Cabinet meeting over the passage of tax-overhaul legislation, Trump said the U.S. would take note of which countries oppose his controversial Jerusalem move, which world leaders have warned would trigger further violence in the Middle East. “All of these nations that take our money and then they vote against us at the Security Council or they vote against us, potentially, at the Assembly, they take hundreds of millions of dollars and even billions of dollars and then they vote against us,” Trump was quoted as saying by The New York Times. “Well, we’re watching those votes. Let them vote against us; we’ll save a lot. We don’t care,” he said. The General Assembly is due to vote on a resolution Thursday that expresses “deep regret at recent decisions concerning the status of Jerusalem” and urges other nations not to follow the U.S. example.