The Republican president, in Brussels for the NATO summit, took a swipe at Germany for supporting a new pipeline for Russian gas, saying at a pre-summit meeting: “We’re supposed to be guarding against Russia and Germany goes out and pays billions and billions of dollars a year to Russia.”

NATO officials said Trump was furious over media coverage suggesting that the first day of the summit had proceeded calmly, and that he had demanded to hold a press conference immediately after the morning meeting.

U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to break with NATO and conduct American security unilaterally — if allies do not immediately meet higher military spending targets, NATO officials and diplomats said.

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Later at a press conference, Trump did not respond to a question about whether he had threatened to pull the U.S. out of NATO. Instead, he answered another part of the question, which asked if he could pull out without congressional approval. He said: “I think I can.”

One reporter asked the president if he would perhaps change his mind about the demand for immediate spending hikes once he boarded his plane and had time to reflect, but Trump insisted he would not.

“Oh, that’s other people that do that,” Trump said. “I’m very consistent. I’m a very stable genius.”