In a stunning Senate floor speech Wednesday, Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE) absolutely obliterated President Donald Trump for his congratulatory call with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

During his six-minute long remarks, Sasse also blasted Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders for dodging a question during Tuesday’s press briefing about whether the White House believes Russia’s election was “free and fair.”

[T]his decision to fail to condemn Putin’s sham reelection, it’s very foolhardy. Vladimir Putin is not a friend. Vladimir Putin is a despot. The president of the United States was wrong to congratulate him. And the White House press secretary was wrong to duck a simple question about whether or not Putin’s reelection was free and fair. It was not. The American people know that. The Russian people know that. And the world knows that. And yesterday, when the White House refused to speak directly and clearly about this matter, we were weakened as a nation and a tyrant was strengthened.

Sasse also blasted the person or persons responsible for leaking Trump’s confidential briefing material — which explicitly instructed Trump “DO NOT CONGRATULATE” Putin.

“The president’s call, congratulatory call, was terribly ill-advised,” Sasse said. “But that doesn’t change the fact that the leaking of the confidential briefing materials for his call were also wrong. It shouldn’t be difficult to say both of these things. They’re both true, so we should be able to say both of them at once.”

Watch above, via C-SPAN 2.

[featured image via screengrab]

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