A bipartisan group of senators on Wednesday met with diplomats from North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) countries to reassure them of the Senate’s support for the alliance, The Associated Press reported.

The private meeting, which also included diplomats from European countries not in NATO, follows President Trump’s criticism of the alliance at a summit in Brussels earlier this month, which rattled longtime allies and startled lawmakers.

Sen. Dick Durbin Richard (Dick) Joseph DurbinThe Hill's Morning Report - Sponsored by Facebook - Trump previews SCOTUS nominee as 'totally brilliant' Feinstein 'surprised and taken aback' by suggestion she's not up for Supreme Court fight Grand jury charges no officers in Breonna Taylor death MORE (D-Ill.), helped initiate the meeting and said lawmakers wanted to “reassure these countries of our commitment to NATO and our commitment to their security,” according to the AP.

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Roughly 20 senators as well as ambassadors and representatives from about nine countries — including from Ukraine, Latvia, Poland, Norway, Finland and new NATO member Montenegro — participated in the session.

Durbin said Trump’s name “never came up” in the hourlong meeting but it hung over the gathering.

“Everyone knows he’s the big actor in the room. And the purpose of this meeting was to overcome some of things he has said and done that raised questions about the future of NATO,” Durbin told the AP.

Trump hasn't publicly threatened to withdraw from NATO, but multiple reports indicated that during the July summit in Brussels he privately threatened to do so if other countries did not commit to increasing their defense spending.

He reportedly demanded that all countries “immediately” hit a goal to spend 2 percent of their gross domestic product on defense spending. NATO nations in 2014 had agreed to reach that goal by 2022.

Trump did not deny those reports during a press conference and said he was “very firm” with allies.

“I think I can probably can [pull out of NATO], but that’s unnecessary, and the people have stepped up today like they’ve never stepped up before,” Trump added.

Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby Richard Craig ShelbySenate to push funding bill vote up against shutdown deadline Senate GOP eyes early exit Dems discussing government funding bill into February MORE (R-Ala.), said the meeting was to let the nations “know that we’re committed to NATO and want them to be.”

Afterward, Polish Ambassador to the U.S. Piotr Wilczek said the nations “appreciate the support of senators, bipartisan support, for our security."

“We are looking for reassurance in both the Congress and the administration,” he added.

The Senate last month responded to Trump’s comments with a nonbinding vote to instruct lawmakers to "reaffirm" the U.S. commitment to NATO.

And a bipartisan group of senators last week introduced legislation to require Trump to get two-thirds of the Senate's approval if he wanted to withdraw the United States from NATO or change U.S. membership.

Two House members last week also introduced separate legislation to prevent tax dollars from being used to withdraw the United States from NATO.