Skip to main content

Rep. Meeks Issues Statement on Trump-Putin Press Conference

July 16, 2018

Washington, DCToday, Senior Member of the Foreign Affairs Committee and Ranking Member of the Europe, Eurasia and Emerging Threats Subcommittee, Representative Gregory Meeks, issued the following statement concerning Trump's joint press conference following the Helsinki summit:

"The Helsinki summit is remarkable in so far as, for the first time, a U.S. President sat in front of the world stage to undermine their own Department of Justice, their own Intelligence Community, and invited a foreign adversary to do the same. When given the chance to denounce Russia's interference in our elections, Trump instead parroted Russian propaganda, pivoting to the ‘missing' server conspiracy theory that his own U.S. attorney explicitly debunked in court.

"In the last few weeks, we have seen Trump take every opportunity to attack our allies, often on false pretenses, while giving Russia a pass on the very real attacks it has levied against our nation. At every opportunity to hold Putin to task, Trump was unwilling. Instead, he let Russia off the hook for interfering in our and our allies' elections, its illegal annexation of Crimea, its occupation in Ukraine and Georgia, and its shielding of Syria's chemical weapons attacks. I am both shocked and offended by our President excusing these hostile actions by audaciously drawing a false comparison to the United States.

"Regardless of whether Trump colluded to get elected, he is clearly colluding with Russia now to advance Putin's interests. To every one of my colleagues across the aisle who has spoken critically of Russia prior to Trump's election, your silence now is deafening. Americans need you to remember your oath of office and defend your country. Now is that time."