While President Donald Trump has his meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin on Monday, one Republican lawmaker had some strong words that he’d prefer the president to relay.
Trump had tweeted in the hours ahead of the summit in Helsinki, Finland that the current low point in U.S.-Russia relations is the fault of past American “foolishness and stupidity,” as well as Special Counsel Robert Mueller‘s investigation, which he simply referred to as “the Rigged Witch Hunt.”
Instead of calling out his own country, Senator Ben Sasse (R-Nebraska) said Trump should be tough on Russia.
“A better thing, Mr. President, would be to declare ‘Russia is the enemy of America and our allies,” Sasse suggested, adding, “and we will expose and respond to their continued cyber-attacks against our nation.”
A better thing, Mr. President, would be to declare: “Russia is the enemy of America and our allies, and we will expose and respond to their continued cyber-attacks against our nation.” https://t.co/qNvgGRA58T
— Ben Sasse (@BenSasse) July 16, 2018
When the summit finally began, Trump had a very different approach. Prior to their private meeting, Trump and Putin appeared before members of the media.
“I think we will end up having an extraordinary relationship,” Trump said. “Getting along with Russia is a good thing, not a bad thing.”
This comes days after Mueller indicted twelve alleged Russian intelligence officers, claiming that they orchestrated hacks on the Democratic National Committee, Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, and Hillary Clinton‘s campaign going into the 2016 presidential election.
[Image via The Guardian screengrab]
