2nd LD Writethru: Trump demands U.S. foreign assistance money "only go to friends of America"
Xinhua,January 31, 2018 Adjust font size:
WASHINGTON, Jan. 30 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump asked Congress to pass a legislation to "help ensure American foreign-assistance dollars always serve American interests, and only go to friends of America" in his first State of the Union address Tuesday.
Citing the vote of UN General Assembly against his highly controversial Jerusalem decision, Trump noted "American taxpayers generously send those same countries billions of dollars in aid every year."
On Dec. 21, 2017, the UN General Assembly voted 128-9 with 35 abstentions to refute U.S. recognition of Jerusalem as the Israeli capital, revealing the isolation of Washington on the issue.
The vote came on the heels of Trump's announcement on Dec. 6 that he decided to recognize Jerusalem as the capital city of Israel, and to move the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
In his speech, Trump also lashed out at Iran, Cuba, Venezuela and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, which he termed as "adversaries."
The president not only urged the Congress to address the "fundamental flaws" in the Iran nuclear deal, but also defended his so-called "maximum pressure" campaign against Pyongyang's nuclear development project in the speech. Enditem