President Donald Trump’s refusal to rehash allegations of Kremlin-backed interference in the 2016 presidential election during a joint press conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin Monday incensed Democrat lawmakers and left wing media pundits.

Standing alongside Putin, President Trump steered clear of confrontation with the Russian, while questioning U.S. intelligence and last week’s federal indictments of 12 Russians for hacking into Democratic email accounts to purportedly hurt Hillary Clinton in 2016.“I have great confidence in my intelligence people, but I will tell you that President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today,” President Trump said following a two hour one-on-one meeting with his Russian counterpart. “He just said it’s not Russia. I will say this: I don’t see any reason why it would be.”

President Trump’s remarks prompted an onslaught of calls for the U.S. to respond to Russia’s alleged meddling, described as an “act of war.”

Leading up to the high stakes meeting between President Trump and Putin, CNN New Day host Chris Cuomo repeatedly accused Russia of “election hacking” to wage war against the U.S. “The big, ugly white elephant in the room will be the U.S. election hacking,” Cuomo speculated. “We’ve been calling it meddling, but I’m trying to stay away from the word because it’s just way too mild. This is an act of war.”

The CNN host described the Russian hacking allegations as “the truth”: “How does [Donald Trump] raise the act of war of the hacking and different attacks during the U.S. election when Vladimir Putin knows damn well that President Trump doesn’t really believe the truth and doesn’t put a whole lot of stock in the event itself?”

HuffPo’s Mike Signorile published an opinion-editorial on Monday morning affirming Russia committed an “act of war,” while accusing President Trump of refusing to discuss the allegations of meddling with the Russian President. “You don’t have to believe there was collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia to see this clearly: When Vladimir Putin and his top military intelligence officers facilitated the hacking of the computer systems of the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton’s campaign, they engaged in an act of war against the United States,” Signorile writes. “And that’s what Republicans would be calling it ― war ― if they weren’t in the tank with President Donald Trump, who, instead of strongly condemning Russia, is cozying up to Putin and is infuriated that he and his campaign are under investigation for colluding with Russia and obstructing the probe.”

Echoing Signorile’s hyperbolic analysis, MarketWatch columnist Rex Nutting on Tuesday wrote “Russia’s ongoing attack on our democracy amounts to an act of war,” and criticized President Trump for offering up warm praise for Putin. The MarketWatch columnist wrote: Russia’s ongoing attack on our democracy amounts to an act of war. But instead of confronting Russian President Vladimir Putin at a joint press conference in Finland on Monday, Donald Trump praised him. Instead of standing up to Putin, Trump stood by him. By his actions, Trump is violating his oath, in which he “solemnly swore” to not only “faithfully execute” his duties as president and commander in chief of the armed forces, but also to “preserve, protect and defend” the Constitution.

Politico joined HuffPo and MarketWatch in publishing its own analysis of the Helsinki summit, yet again lamenting President Trump’s decision to repair U.S. relations with Russia instead of relitigating Putin’s “act of war,” during the 2016 election.

foreign policy experts Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling and Molly McKew wrote:

Members of the House and Senate have been briefed, but remain deadlocked in partisan bickering. Some in the House have spent more time investigating the investigators than they have in trying to hold Russia accountable. Trump’s suggestion to accept Russian investigators into this process adds a new layer to the sideshow. When right of the boom feels like left of the boom, it’s easy to miss the fact that what the Kremlin did—is doing—was, and is, an act of war.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) told MSNBC’s Morning Joe, ahead of the Trump-Putin showdown, that the U.S. faces a continuing act of war by Vladimir Putin.” The Democrat lawmaker said: