Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, said he wants Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Minority leader Chuck Schumer to cooperate on sending a strong signal that the U.S. won’t tolerate further attempts to meddle in its politics.
Senator Lindsey Graham said: “If in fact they are up to it, and I believe they are, we’re running out of time to prepare. So I’m going to tell Mitch McConnell that he needs to cooperate with Chuck Schumer and knock off the partisanship and put Team America on the field” .
The aftershocks of Trump’s news conference on Monday in Helsinki with Putin in which he seemed to question U.S. intelligence agencies’ finding that Russia meddled in the 2016 U.S. election were continuing to rattle lawmakers from both parties. Although Trump attempted to clarify his stance on Tuesday, his often-stated goal of improving relations with Russia was dealt a blow in Congress.
He continued to cause confusion over his position on Wednesday, when during an event at the White House , Trump answered “no” after a reporter asked him whether Russia is still targeting the U.S. That contradicts a statement put out by Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats after the Helsinki news conference that cited Russia’s “ongoing, pervasive efforts to undermine our democracy.”
Immediately afterward many lawmakers, including Graham, said Trump was wrong.
However, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Trump wasn’t disputing conclusions that Russia is continuing to threaten U.S. elections. She said Trump’s “no” meant that he didn’t want to take questions. She added that the administration is taking measures to ensure that the election interference “doesn’t happen again.”
