A former Trump administration Pentagon official went after German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Sunday after the chancellor complimented President Biden as Europe looks to the November elections.
Scholz told Politico on Saturday that Biden knows “exactly what he is doing” and is likely to win, complimenting his demeanor and performance on the economy.
Former Pentagon Deputy Assistant Secretary Elbridge Colby called the remarks “wildly inappropriate.”
“I think staying out of each other’s elections is better,” he wrote on the social media platform X. “But either way comments like these what message are Republicans supposed to take about the current Berlin government?”
Scholz also lauded Biden’s backing of NATO, all while Trump has made threats to remove the U.S. from the critical decades-old alliance. He characterized the questions over who will win in November as “a bit strange,” saying Biden is the likely victor.
“I question whether [Scholz] really knows what he’s talking about in the American context,” Colby said. “And I *definitely* think it’s wildly inappropriate to comment on domestic American politics and elections.”
Colby is among the front-runners to be a potential Trump administration national security adviser. He has personally advocated for the U.S. to be more active in fending off China, while taking a less active role in other conflicts abroad, including Ukraine.
Scholz’s comments come from the Group of Seven summit in Italy, where President Biden met with the county’s closest allies to discuss economics and foreign policy. The group announced a $50 billion loan for Ukraine on Thursday, with funds taken from frozen Russian assets.
