Donald Trump refuses to confront Vladimir Putin on vote row

Trump, speaking in Helsinki after his first summit with Putin, said he saw no reason to believe his own country’s intelligence agencies over the Kremlin leader’s assurances that Russian Federation did not interfere in the USA election. “I’m horrified – and have never been more proud of the fact that Putin hates my father so much he personally sanctioned him on Russia’s enemies list”.

In an exclusive interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity, Trump said Russian President Vladimir Putin described the Mueller probe to him as “a shame” when the two leaders met in Helsinki earlier Monday.

Over 45 minutes, the leaders discussed everything from Syria and the Crimea to election meddling and cyber-hacking.

Presidents have better things to do than fly all the way to Helsinki just to trade insults, Putin pointed out. “However, an even better argument would be that Russian Federation and the United States are on the opposite sides of various armed confrontations in Syria”, he continued, referencing Russia’s backing of the Syrian regime in opposition to the US’ backing of anti-Assad rebel groups.

“Russia’s attempts to influence the 2016 election are disgraceful”. He also insisted that he saw no reason why Putin – who said on Monday that Trump was his preferred candidate in 2016 – would have wanted to influence the United States election. It comes after his visit to the United Kingdom, where he gave the British Prime Minister some “brutal” Brexit negotiating advice.

The president’s critics pointed to Trump’s refusal to publicly criticise Putin, who again denied that the “Russian state” interfered in the U.S. election and seemed puzzled by why the question kept coming up.

“Following Trump’s bull-in-the-china-shop diplomacy at North Atlantic Treaty Organisation and in London and his obsequious and embarrassing performance in Helsinki”, said Pifer, “it is hard to avoid the conclusion that US foreign policy interests would have been better served had Trump stayed home”.

He again said Mueller should have worked with his people, per a treaty between the two countries, on his investigation, scolding, “Why wouldn’t Special Counsel Mueller send us an official request within the framework of this agreement?”.

“We haven’t seen an American so owned by a Russian since Rocky IV”, he said.

Trump was too puny a fish, pre-White House, for him to have bothered to collect compromising information on, Putin said. Even its choreography allowed Putin to claim a victory, down to the auto that whisked him through Helsinki’s shuttered streets.

In a Fox News Channel interview after the summit, Putin pronounced the meetings “the beginning of the path” back from the West’s past efforts to isolate Russian Federation. “And it’s nothing to be proud of for American democracy, because using law enforcement agencies in a political rivalry is inadmissible”. “Trump looks nervous and concerned”. Fellow GOP politicians have generally stuck with Trump during a year and a half of turmoil, but he was assailed as seldom before as he returned from what he had hoped would be a proud summit with Putin.

Trump said Putin was “a believer in Israel”. Someone can only commit treason against the U.S. in favor of another nation if the United States is at war with said country.

“[Mr Putin] just said it is not Russian Federation”.

Trump has often said that the US getting along with Russian Federation is “not a bad thing”, but Rubio countered that Putin is “not interested” in developing a better relationship with the U.S.

“His behavior is so inexplicable”, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said.

“Why would Trump play into his opponents’ hands?”

‘The president must appreciate that Russian Federation is not our ally, ‘ Ryan, R-Wis., said in a statement. Additionally, I will continue to support maximum economic sanctions on Russian Federation, including the full implementation of the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) that passed the Senate by a vote of 98-2.

Paul called the constant criticism in Washington of Trump’s efforts to improve relations with Russian Federation a “Trump derangement syndrome”.