WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Tom Udall (D-N.M.), member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, issued the following statement on President Trump’s press conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin:
“While the whole world was watching, President Trump refused to acknowledge that Russia interfered in a U.S. election and would not tell Russia to abandon its attacks on our electoral system -- contrary to the unanimous conclusions of the U.S. Intelligence Community and mere days after the Department of Justice indicted 12 Russian spies for just that behavior. The president refused to defend the integrity of American democracy and instead parroted Russian propaganda. Millions of Americans want to know why.
“Politics are supposed to stop at the water’s edge, and presidents of the United States are supposed to stand up for the United States. In a stunning moment in our history, President Trump went overseas and attacked the judgment and integrity of his own nation’s Intelligence Community while standing next to the leader of the government that attacked our democracy. On the eve of this summit, the president again called American journalists ‘the enemy of the people’ – hours before meeting with the leader of a regime that has killed and jailed journalists for reporting the truth.
“What we are seeing is dangerous and unprecedented. I am glad that some Republicans in Congress are speaking out against this unfortunate display, but real action is needed to protect our democracy. Congress must protect the Mueller probe. And Republican leaders in Congress should convene real oversight hearings on the president’s bizarre and reckless approach to Russia and NATO as soon as he returns to the United States.”
