Senators, congresswoman react to President Trump’s meeting with Russian president
Several Missouri lawmakers reacted to President Trump’s meeting and press conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday.
In a statement released Monday afternoon, U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill said it would weaken support from allies.
President Trump’s statements today fly in the face of the consensus of the Intelligence Community, the Director of National Intelligence, the Special Counsel, and a bipartisan investigation by the Senate Intelligence Committee. I stand with my Republican colleagues who are calling out this unprecedented rebuke of our intelligence officers–most of whom are veterans of the United States military. Today’s actions will only embolden the enemies of our country and erode the support of our allies.
U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt also released a statement, saying there is “no doubt” Russia tried to interfere with elections.
Vladimir Putin is not an ally of the United States. He is a calculating adversary who is trying to exert all the influence he can anywhere he can. There is no doubt Russia attempted to interfere in our elections, as they have done in other countries for years. We must make clear that we will not tolerate Russian aggression against the United States or our allies.
U.S. Rep. Vicky Hartzler took to Facebook to express her thoughts with the following statement:
I am and continue to be concerned about Russia’s disinformation campaign against the United States. Particularly, I am concerned that Russia is exploiting political divisions with the intention to cause individuals to question the legitimacy of our democracy. In terms of President Trump’s recent comments with Vladimir Putin, we do not know what was discussed behind closed doors. We do know, however, that the same Russian Twitter bot that spread disinformation during the Mizzou protests also spread disinformation during the 2016 Presidential Election. Last week our government also indicted 12 Russian hackers for hacking into the DNC. These events clearly indicate that Russia is actively attempting to exploit divisions in U.S. society.
