US lawmakers blast ‘shameful’ Trump over Putin summit

US lawmakers blast President Donald Trump over his uncritical comments towards Russia during a landmark summit with Vladimir Putin, calling it “shameful,” “dangerous” and “verging on treason.”

Senior Republican Senator Lindsey Graham describes Trump’s Helsinki summit and joint press conference with Putin as a “missed opportunity” to hold Russia accountable for meddling in the 2016 election.

Trump’s answer to a question on election interference, in which he attacked US Democrats rather than Moscow’s spies, “will be seen by Russia as a sign of weakness and create far more problems than it solves,” Graham charges.

Senator Jeff Flake, a fellow Republican and staunch critic of the president, labels his performance “shameful.”

“I never thought I would see the day when our American President would stand on the stage with the Russian President and place blame on the United States for Russian aggression. This is shameful,” he said in a tweet.

Representative Frank LoBiondo, a Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, which is investigating Russian election meddling, notes that just on Friday, US prosecutors indicted 12 Russian spies for hacking Democratic computers during the election.

“It is clear Russia’s intentions,” he says. “President Trump missed an opportunity to hold Putin publicly accountable.”

Democrats have much harsher language for the president.

Chuck Schumer, the senior Democrat in the Senate calls Trump’s appearance of siding with Putin over the allegations of election interference “dangerous and weak.”

“In the entire history of our country, Americans have never seen a president of the United States support an American adversary the way @realDonaldTrump has supported President Putin,” Schumer says.

— AFP