Toomey denounces both Trump and Putin
U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey joined many Republicans and Democrats alike in fiercely denouncing Vladimir Putin in the hours after the Russian president’s meeting and news conference Monday with Donald Trump.
Mr. Toomey also took on the U. S. president, tweeting: “@POTUS’ blindness to Putin’s hostile acts against the U.S. and our allies — election meddling included — is very troubling.”
But several other Senate Republicans didn’t mention Mr. Trump in their statements about the summit, even though he echoed many of the same things for which the Russian president was criticized.
Instead, they emphasized their support of American intelligence agencies and their conclusion that Russia meddled in the 2016 presidential election, while leaving out Mr. Trump and his open questioning of his intelligence agencies.
Mr. Toomey, the top Pennsylvania Republican, pulled no punches
in his critique of Mr. Putin. “Whether it’s protecting the hackers responsible for this crime, committing numerous human rights violations, invading Ukraine, annexing Crimea, supporting the Iranian regime, taking hostile actions in Syria, or threatening peaceful European neighbors, it’s clear that Putin is a bad actor and should be treated as an international pariah,” Mr. Toomey said in a statement.
Other Republican senators used similar messaging in discussing Mr. Putin.
James Lankford of Oklahoma said Russia should be denounced but didn’t mention by whom. Todd Young of Indiana defended the U.S. intelligence community while asserting that America should deal with Russia from a position of strength and unity. John Boozman of Arkansas, Deb Fischer of Nebraska and Joni Ernst of Iowa backed up the intel community and said that Russia is no friend of the United States.
“I trust the assessments of Dan Coats, Gina Haspel & their teams more than I trust a former KGB agent, Vladimir Putin,” tweeted Mr. Lankford. “U.S. Presidents should meet w/ foreign leaders. But we must unequivocally denounce Russia’s election interference attempts & human rights abuses around the world.”
Sens. John McCain of Arizona and Susan Collins of Maine were among the few top Republicans to condemn Mr. Trump for his attitude toward the Russian president and his statements on Monday.
Mr. McCain called the news conference “one of the most disgraceful performances by an American president in memory” and said the president “proved not only unable, but unwilling to stand up to Putin.” Ms. Collins called on the president to act now to prevent future election meddling. “The Russians were relentless in their efforts to meddle in the 2016 elections, and their efforts are ongoing,” she said in a tweet.
Democrats, including U.S. Sen. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, appeared unified in their condemnation of both leaders.
Mr. Casey called the news conference “dangerous and reckless.”
“Instead of holding Vladimir Putin accountable in Helsinki, President Trumpem braced him and in doing so diminished America’s standing in the international community and shamed the office of the presidency,” Mr. Casey said.