U.S. Senator Bob Corker (R-TN) speaks at the Milken Institute's 21st Global Conference in Beverly Hills, California, U.S. April 30, 2018. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Republican head of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Bob Corker said President Donald Trump’s comments at a joint news conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday made the United States look like a “pushover.”

“When he had the opportunity to defend our intelligence agencies who work for him, I was very disappointed and saddened with the equivalency that he gave between them and what Putin was saying,” Corker told CNN in a reference to the agencies conclusions that Moscow interfered in the 2016 U.S. election and Putin’s denials that Republican Trump apparently accepted.

“The president’s comments made us look as a nation more like a pushover and I was disappointed in that, ” Corker said.