US Ambassador Quits Over 'Factually Wrong' Trump

James Melville, top diplomat in NATO-reliant Estonia, says he's done
By Polly Davis Doig,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 1, 2018 7:41 AM CDT
US Ambassador Quits Over 'Factually Wrong' Trump
Hayden Szeto, right, smiles with United States Ambassador to Estonia James D. Melville Jr. as he arrives on the black carpet to the European Premiere of "The Edge of Seventeen" at the Black Nights Tallinn Film Festival, on Sunday, Nov. 20, 2016 in Tallinn, Estonia.   (Photo by Tim Ireland/Invision for Sony Pictures Entertainment/AP Images)

The United States embassy in Estonia has a brand new opening at the top, and the now-former ambassador, James Melville, went out swinging at President Trump, reports the Washington Post. "The honorable course is to resign," Melville wrote Friday on Facebook. "For the President to say the [European Union] was 'set up to take advantage of the United States, to attack our piggy bank,' or that 'NATO is as bad as NAFTA' is not only factually wrong, but proves to me that it's time to go." Estonia, the Post notes, sits on the Russian border, and Melville's resignation comes as Trump indicates he's rethinking NATO protections for such countries and ahead of his summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin. "Having served under six presidents and 11 secretaries of state, I never really thought it would reach that point for me," Melville wrote. (More US ambassador stories.)

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