(INDIANAPOLIS) – Backlash from President Trump’s meeting with Russia’s Vladimir Putin could include congressional action.
Republican Congresswoman Susan Brooks says Congress has passed sanctions against Russia before, and says warnings of Russian plans to interfere in November’s election could bring more. She says the U.S. needs to make it publicly clear it won’t stand for any attempt to meddle in elections here or in other Western nations. And while she praises Trump for pressing NATO members to make good on their financial commitments to the alliance, she says the U.S. needs to reassure NATO countries of its commitment to the alliance. She says she found herself doing that in a previously scheduled meeting with a member of Germany’sd parliament.
Democrat Senator Joe Donnelly says he’d support additional sanctions, and notes the Senate has already unanimously passed a resolution blasting the “outrageous” idea of handing over a former ambassador and other Putin critics for Russian authorities to question. Trump had publicly mused about the idea — the White House has since said that proposal is dead.
Donnelly flatly says the U.S. isn’t doing enough to guard against the election interference effort intelligence agencies have warned remains ongoing. And he says he’s “really concerned” about the no-advisers-allowed closed-door meeting between Trump and Putin — he notes intelligence director Dan Coats has said he still doesn’t know what was discussed.
Senators have requested the notes of the U-S translator in the meeting, the only American besides Trump to take part. Donnelly says the substance of the meeting has a direct bearing on American troops in Afghanistan and other hotspots.
U.S. Rep. Susan Brooks (R-5th) (Photo: Eric Berman/WIBC)
