McCain urges election meddling talk
He wants Trump to bring up issue when meeting with Putin
Sen. John McCain on Tuesday said President Donald Trump should bring up Russia’s meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election when Trump meets face-to-face with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“He’s got to bring up the issues that are a problem, ranging from their interference in our campaigns to what they’re doing in other parts of the world,” McCain, R-Ariz., told The Arizona Republic in a telephone interview from Kabul, Afghanistan, where McCain spent the Independence Day holiday with U.S. troops.
“Look, it’s fine if he meets with him, but he’s got to have an agenda and he’s got to have decent responses,” McCain continued. “And if he doesn’t, he should tell Vladimir that he has no responses.”
The White House announced Tuesday that Trump and Putin will have “a normal bilateral meeting” on Friday while both world leaders are in Hamburg, Germany, for the G20 summit.
“The first contact is very important and the leaders have much to discuss,” Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov told Russian news agency TASS.
Historical precedent suggests Trump should heed McCain’s warning about being prepared. Global rivals size-up and test new U.S. presidents.
In 1961, then-President John F. Kennedy found himself browbeat and dominated by Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev when they first met at a disastrous summit in Vienna. Khrushchev left with the perception that Kennedy was a political weakling and Cold War tensions quickly escalated with the erection of the Berlin Wall and the Cuban Missile Crisis.
“As long as you have an agenda, then it’s fine,” McCain said. “It depends on how you handle it. I’m not against talking, but you’ve got to have some parameters before you start talking.”
Russia’s suspected role in the theft and distribution of emails from the Democratic National Committee and Democrat presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman continue to roil American politics. Former FBI Director Robert Mueller, tapped as special counsel by the Justice Department, is investigating whether there was any collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russians.
McCain also has been sharply critical of Russia’s alleged role in a plot to overthrow the government of Montenegro.
McCain, the influential Senate Armed Services Committee chairman, routinely celebrates Independence Day with U.S. troops stationed in Afghanistan. He was joined on this trip by Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.; Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I.; David Perdue, R-Ga.; and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.
McCain said he got to have lunch with servicemen and servicewomen from Arizona.
“We spent Fourth of July here with the troops, and it’s always uplifting and always a great experience,” McCain said.
McCain’s bipartisan Senate delegation previously had meetings in the United Arab Emirates and Pakistan focused on fighting terrorism and other security-related topics.
Nowicki is The Republic’s national political reporter. Follow him on Twitter @dannowicki.