U.S. Senator Todd Young (R-Ind.), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Monday issued the following statement regarding President Donald Trump’s meeting and press conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin:
“Moscow invades and bullies its neighbors, disregards its treaty obligations, seeks to divide NATO, and props up the murderous Assad regime. To protect America’s national security interests, stand up for democratic values, and deter additional aggression by Putin, we must deal with Moscow from a position of strength and unity. I have no reason to doubt the clear conclusions of the intelligence community when it comes to Moscow’s attempts to undermine our democracy. When it comes to defending our democratic institutions against foreign subversion and meddling, we are Americans—not Republicans or Democrats.”
Monday afternoon Donnelly said, “When given the chance to stand up for our country and its security interests, President Trump instead emboldened President Putin and disregarded the consensus conclusion of the hard-working and patriotic Americans in the intelligence community, including Director of National Intelligence and fellow Hoosier Dan Coats. This meeting was a setback for American national security. We must not tolerate efforts by Russia or other actors that disrupt our democracy or undermine our interests around the globe.”
For more than a year, the entire United States intelligence community has agreed that Russia, under the direction of President Putin, attempted to influence the 2016 election.
Friday’s indictments from the Special Counsel, announced by the Department of Justice, came before Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats sounded the alarm, warning of a potentially devastating cyberattack on U.S. systems and citing that among state actors “Russia has been the most aggressive foreign actor, no question.”
