More outrage as defiant Trump defends his summit with Putin
US prez blames media for its coverage as lawmakers mull additional sanctions on Russia
WASHINGTON:A day after his summit with Russia’s Vladimir Putin, US President Donald Trump continued to face outrage after he failed to hold Moscow accountable for meddling in the 2016 polls.
Trump had been under pressure to raise the issue of Russian meddling with Putin at their summit in Helsinki on Monday. However, he appeared to openly question US intelligence agencies’ finding that Russia meddled in the 2016 election to his benefit and was seen to be only too willing to accept his counterpart’s denials.
And with the Putin meet concluding a week-long Europe tour — including a two-day Nato summit and talks with UK Prime Minister Theresa May — Trump did what he does best — he blamed the media for its coverage.
“While I had a great meeting with NATO, raising vast amounts of money, I had an even better meeting with Vladimir Putin of Russia. Sadly, it is not being reported that way - the Fake News is going Crazy!” he tweeted.
Trump’s stance led to his director of national intelligence, Daniel Coats, publicly questioning his attempted equivalency on the issue.
Coats — a Trump nominee — hit back, saying: “We have been clear in our assessments of Russian meddling in the 2016 election and their ongoing, pervasive efforts to undermine our democracy, and we will continue to provide unvarnished and objective intelligence in support of our national security.”
Some lawmakers threatened action in Congress to punish Russia and show support for US intelligence agencies.
House Speaker Paul Ryan, calling Russia’s government “menacing,” said he was willing to consider additional sanctions on Russia. “Let’s be very clear, just so everybody knows: Russia did meddle with our elections,” he said. “What we intend to do is make sure they don’t get away with it again and also to help our allies.”
The top Democrat in the senate, Chuck Schumer, called for legislation to enhance election security. He also called for hearings to get testimony from Trump’s national security team about what transpired during the Trump-putin meeting .
Bob Corker, the Republican chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, called for secretary of state Mike Pompeo to brief Capitol Hill about Trump’s meeting with Russian Putin.
Republican Lindsey Graham said senators want Pompeo “to tell us, was there any deal struck in that two hour meeting?”