{"id":11953,"date":"2018-07-13T18:23:06","date_gmt":"2018-07-13T18:23:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/uncategorized\/2018\/07\/13\/dems-to-trump-cancel-putin-meeting-over-hacking-indictments\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T20:27:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T20:27:10","slug":"dems-to-trump-cancel-putin-meeting-over-hacking-indictments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/cyber\/2018\/07\/13\/dems-to-trump-cancel-putin-meeting-over-hacking-indictments\/","title":{"rendered":"Dems to Trump: Cancel Putin meeting over hacking indictments"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 Key Democratic lawmakers are calling on U.S. President Donald Trump to cancel his meeting this week with Russian President Vladimir Putin after the indictment<\/a> of 12 Russians hackers for meddling in the U.S. election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.; Senate Armed Services Committee ranking member Jack Reed, D-R.I.; Senate Intelligence Committee ranking member Mark Warner, D-Va., House Armed Services Committee ranking member Adam Smith, D\u2212Wash., 19 Democratic members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and were among Democrats who said Friday that Trump should back out of a one-on-one meeting at the Helsinki summit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain, R-Ariz., was one of few Republicans to weigh in, saying if the president \u201cis not prepared to hold Putin accountable, the summit in Helsinki should not move forward.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The indictments expose a plot by Putin\u2019s government to weaken American institutions, and despite warnings from military and intelligence leaders, he said. He further accused the White House and Congress of taking “insufficient action \u2026 to strengthen our cyber defenses, safeguard our election systems, and deter further destabilizing activities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The pressure came after the Justice Department announced Friday that indictments were handed down charging Russian intelligence officials with hacking various computers, including in Hillary Clinton\u2019s Campaign and the Democratic National Committee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThese indictments are further proof of what everyone but the president seems to understand: President Putin is an adversary who interfered in our elections to help President Trump win,\u201d Schumer said in his statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPresident Trump should cancel his meeting with Vladimir Putin until Russia takes demonstrable and transparent steps to prove that they won\u2019t interfere in future elections. Glad-handing with Vladimir Putin on the heels of these indictments would be an insult to our democracy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reed, earlier in the week, spearheaded a measure supporting NATO, which passed 97\u20132 in the face of Trump\u2019s confronting alliance members over burden sharing at their summit in Brussels<\/a> . In an interview with MSNBC, Reed said Trump\u2019s attacks on NATO were \u201cdoing what Vladimir Putin has been trying to do for many years now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn light of this stunning indictment by the Justice Department that these Russian conspirators attacked our democracy and were communicating with Americans to interfere in our election, President Trump should immediately cancel his meeting with Vladimir Putin,\u201d Reed\u2019s Friday statement said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

House Foreign Affairs Committee ranking member Eliot Engel and the panel\u2019s other Democrats sent Trump a letter Friday expressing deep concern about the President meeting with Putin in light of the accusations in the indictments, which they called \u201ca direct attack on our democracy.\u201d (Smith and HASC member Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., joined their letter.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Connecticut Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal, who serves on the SASC and Senate Judiciary Commitee, joined the chorus of Democrats who said the Special Counsel Robert Mueller\u2019s investigation was not the witch hunt Trump and other Republicans have alleged. He also argued the Putin meeting should be cancelled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe attack on our democracy was a deliberate, destructive act of the Russian government,\u201d Blumenthal said. \u201cThere was no 400 pound hacker sitting on his bed. This criminality was perpetrated and performed by Vladimir Putin\u2019s fellow KGB thugs and intelligence agents acting on his behalf \u2013 and their purpose was to aid President Trump\u2019s campaign.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n


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House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., sent a statement saying that while Trump should still attend the summit, he \u201cmust demand and secure a real, concrete and comprehensive agreement that the Russians will cease their ongoing attacks on our democracy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

House Oversight Committee ranking member Elijah Cummings, D-Md., seemed in a statement Friday, to suggest the indictments would provide Trump with ammunition to talk tough with Putin at the meeting, if he\u2019ll use it, and he challenged his Republican colleagues: \u201cWhose side are you on? Ours or Putin\u2019s?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One SASC Republican, Sen. Ben Sasse, reacted with a statement calling for unity against Putin, saying the Russian leader, \u201cis not the President\u2019s buddy.\u201d He did not call for the meeting to be cancelled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe U.S. intelligence community knows that the Russian government attacked the U.S. This is not a Republican or a Democrat view \u2013 it is simply the reality,\u201d said Sasse, of Nebraska. \u201cAll patriotic Americans should understand that Putin is not America\u2019s friend, and he is not the President\u2019s buddy. We should stand united against Putin\u2019s past and planned future attacks against us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n


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In light of today\u2019s indictments, there should be no one-on-one meeting between President Trump and Vladimir Putin on Monday. There must be Americans in the room. If the President won't make Russia's attack on our election the #1 issue at the summit, then it should be canceled.<\/p>— Mark Warner (@MarkWarner) July 13, 2018<\/a><\/blockquote>