The more President Donald Trump talks about Russia, the more Republicans cringe.

The president’s effort to clean up his disastrous Monday news conference is falling flat on Capitol Hill — and White House aides are doing little to assuage an increasingly frustrated GOP. The reason: Threats from Republican lawmakers about confronting the president or pushing bills to punish Russia for further election interference are ringing hollow inside the White House, which has grown accustomed to panic, followed by inaction, on Capitol Hill.


A number of hawkish senators alarmed by the president’s remarks have yet to hear from chief of staff John Kelly, who frequently reassures nervous Republicans, and some senators are barreling forward with efforts to combat Russian interference in the fall elections. Increasingly, they view their own efforts to blunt Russia as distinctly separate from whatever Trump or his administration is doing or saying at any given time.

“In the end, we can present people with information. But you can’t force anyone to say what you want them to say, especially the president of the United States,” said Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.). “Our job is to pass laws and do things that are for the good of the country … and one of those things should be [imposing] strong deterrence measures with pre-positioned penalties should [Russian meddling] ever happen again.”

"I'm not going to try to excuse what the White House is doing. What we need to do is focus action here in Congress," added Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.).

Trump’s half-hearted statement on Tuesday walking back remarks undermining the findings of the U.S. intelligence community was crafted by adviser Stephen Miller, according to a Republican close to the White House. As Marine One touched down at Andrews Air Force Base on Monday evening, the backlash from pro-Trump lawmakers and activists was sufficient that the president as well as his senior advisers, including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Kelly and Miller himself acknowledged the need to do an about-face.


Miller took the lead, and Trump put the finishing touches on the statement — which, according to the Republican close to the White House, “didn’t pass the laugh test.” Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) acknowledged the statement was significant given Trump's propensity to dig in: "You could see it was very painful."

But it wasn’t long before the president backslid again. In the latest twist, Trump seemed to suggest Wednesday he doesn't think Russia is interfering in the midterms, after bragging about how "tough" he is on Russia.

Numerous GOP senators dispute that account and are pleading with the president to stop doubting his own administration's intelligence.

Trump’s Tuesday remarks, when he said he misspoke Monday while standing beside Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, are “probably the best we’re going to be able to get, right?” said Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, the No. 3 GOP leader.


“He attempted to clarify it, but ineffectively,” Thune said. “The last couple days certainly haven’t been an example of a willingness to express support for what the intelligence community is clearly telling us.”

Republicans say they will continue working to stop Russian interference in the elections; some are hoping to slap new sanctions on Moscow. But as far as Trump’s rhetoric goes, many in the GOP say there’s little they can do except “point out that he’s wrong,” said Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio).

“He’s got to acknowledge that there’s a consensus among our intelligence agencies, including our committees here on Capitol Hill, not only that the Russians interfered and meddled with our elections in 2016, but are doing it again in 2018,” Portman said. “And that’s why we need to take action.”

Yet White House aides have done little to forestall that kind of activity, apparently convinced it won't happen. Even when fury on the Hill has reached fever pitch, most recently after Trump imposed tariffs on China and the European Union, the Republican Congress has done little to push back on Trump.

“There’s always a worry that something [Trump does] could be problematic, but there’s not enough will on the Hill that anything would have enough legs,” said a former White House official.

Sanders insisted Wednesday that Trump’s dismissal earlier in the day of a question about whether Russia is targeting the elections was actually just a dismissal of reporters' shouts.

Trump “was saying 'no' to answering questions,” Sanders said. “He does believe that they would target U.S. elections again.”

That sentiment assuaged close allies like Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who went from furious to satisfied in a matter of hours Wednesday. Yet in most Republicans' eyes, any progress Trump had made in repairing his disparaging assessment of U.S. intelligence had been undone. Republicans were already on the record rebutting him and expressing frustration that the president continues to deny what they see as black and white.


“I think [Trump] sent very conflicting, mixed messages to someone who is clearly our adversary, about whom there is absolutely no doubt that he attempted to interfere in our elections,” said Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), a member of the Intelligence Committee. She said Russia is “absolutely” attempting to meddle again in U.S. elections this fall.

Rubio is pressing for passage of a bill with Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) to automatically slap more sanctions on Russia if Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats determines the Russians have interfered in the midterms. But Sanders called that a “hypothetical situation” and declined to endorse or shoot down the bill.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and other senior Republicans like the idea of imposing pre-emptive penalties on Russia ahead of the elections. But there are concerns among some senators that the sanctions in Rubio's bill are too broad and would hurt the U.S. and European economies if enacted. Other senators, including Graham, are working on separate bills.

In other words, there’s little chance of quick action from Congress in reaffirming an adversarial stance toward Russia, other than perhaps a non-binding resolution backing up the intelligence agencies. That’s in part because Republicans believe that the president will soon enough plunge into a new controversy that blurs out the current outcry.

“I have full faith that he will have created another similar big story by maybe Friday and it will be a distant memory,” said one GOP senator.

Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), who offered rare criticism on Monday of Trump's warmth toward Russia, said he accepts Trump's efforts to quell the Russia controversy and said it was time to move on: "We can't blow everything out of proportion."

But other Republicans aren’t letting it go. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) wants to hear Trump say “no more. Knock it off. Stay away. Get out. And demand that Russia stay away when it comes to our elections.”

“And I didn’t hear that in his walk-back,” she added. “I’m still waiting.”


Elana Schor contributed to this report.