Three days after Republicans lost control of the House, President Donald Trump departed Friday for a diplomatic weekend in Paris that will put him face-to-face with Russian President Vladimir Putin as Democrats with their newfound House majority prepare to explore that relationship more deeply.

Trump campaigned on warming relations with Moscow after things chilled under former President Barack Obama, and kept up that hope for much of his first year in office. But lately, even the 45th president has shown with Putin, expressing doubt that things will get better anytime soon. Trump’s administration has repeatedly implemented sanctions and other tough-on-Russia policies that have further chilled relations.

Trump announced he would not hold his second one-on-one summit with the former KGB agent even though his national security adviser, John Bolton, announced the meeting would take place during a recent visit to Moscow. (The first summit, in July in Finland, did not go so well for Trump, drawing bipartisan scorn back home.)

Trump this week downplayed several official events scheduled as part of ceremonies marking the 100th anniversary of World War I Armistice Day hosted by the French government. But incoming Democratic chairs of the House committees with jurisdiction over all things Trump and Russia are doing the opposite.

“We’ll clearly look into [Russian interference], but we’ll also have to talk to the [Department of Justice] people to make sure we don’t step on anything they’re doing,” said New York Rep. Jerry Nadler, the expected chair of the House Judiciary Committee come January.