U.S. Sen. James Lankford, R-Oklahoma City, who serves on the Senate Intelligence Committee, issued this statement on President Donald Trump's news conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin:

“I trust the assessments from Dan Coats and Gina Haspel and their Intelligence teams more than I trust a former KGB agent, Vladimir Putin. It is a fact that Russian entities hacked U.S. presidential campaign accounts, launched cyberattacks against at least 21 states, attacked U.S. voting system software companies, and engaged in social media misinformation campaigns during the 2016 campaign. There is no evidence that any member of the Trump campaign colluded with Russia during the 2016 election, but there is plenty of evidence that the Russians aggressively attempted to interfere in our election.

“Every U.S. President should develop a working relationship with global leaders. But, as the world's only superpower, we should unequivocally denounce Russia's election interference activities and human rights offenses around the world.