President Trump has toughened his stance on Russia over his first year in office, a leading Senate Democrat acknowledged Wednesday.
That’s a rare gesture towards approval for Trump’s attitude on Russia from a Democratic lawmaker, against the backdrop of investigations into alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin during the 2016 elections. Indeed, Cardin made the remark while unveiling a report that faults Trump for failing to lead a broad, international effort to confront Russian aggression.
“I think the president has been exposed to the realities of the challenges that we have and is acting in a way to at least recognize some of these threats,” he continued. “Is he doing what I want him to do? No … I’m hopeful that we’ll continue to see the United States evolve into strong leadership, working with Europe, which is critically important, to defend us against these kind of attacks.”
Trump’s Republican allies hoped such an evolution would take place, even when he exchanged compliments with Russian President Vladimir Putin and questioned the U.S. commitment to the NATO alliance during the 2016 campaign.
“I hope that when Donald Trump begins to receive intelligence briefings of the nature that I’ve been reviewing for a year and a half now in the Intelligence Committee that he might have a slightly different perspective on Vladimir Putin, because Vladimir Putin is not a friend of the United States,” Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., said during the Republican National Convention.
Notably, Trump recently licensed the sale of lethal defensive weapons to Ukraine, which is embroiled in a conflict with Russian-led forces that annexed Crimea and destabilized eastern regions of the country. The conflict has been underway since 2014, and former President Obama considered allowing such arms deals, but the licenses weren’t granted until December.
Still, Cardin urged Trump to take more personal responsibility for countering Russian aggression. It’s a sensitive topic for the president, who has been frustrated by claims that Russian cyber-attacks against the Democratic party in 2016 aided his campaign. But Cardin’s team drafted a report chronicling the history of Russian aggression against Europe and the United States under Putin and proposing a series of potential countermeasures.
“Without leadership from the president, any attempt to marshal such a response will be inherently weakened at the outset,” Cardin’s report says.
The report may be understood as an effort to accelerate Trump’s policy development in his second year in office. “I do believe that the American people and the Congress and his administration has changed his views during the course of this year,” Cardin said Wednesday morning. “I hope that the bipartisan efforts of Congress will help in that regard.”
