President Trump on Monday faced accusations of treason and the most sustained criticism from members of his own party since Charlottesville, Va., after an ill-fated press conference alongside Russian President Vladimir Putin united much of the political world against him.
“Vladimir Putin is trying to create mistrust in this country,” said Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., on the Senate floor Monday night. “And today the president of the United States decided to let Vladimir Putin off the hook, and in so doing, he creates an incentive for Putin to ratchet up his campaigns of misinformation.”
“To have our No. 1 citizen subverting the interest of our citizens to the foolishness of Putin borders on treason,” high-ranking Democratic Rep. James Clyburn of South Carolina told reporters. “In fact, in my opinion, it’s treasonous.”
Former CIA Director John Brennan also said Trump’s refusal to back up American intelligence agencies’ reports of Russian election interference were treasonous and rose to the standard of “high crimes and misdemeanors” laid out in the Constitution for impeaching a president.
The top Democrats in both the House and Senate suggested Russia might have compromising information about the president. A swing-district Republican who had served in the CIA said Trump had gotten “played by old KGB hands” and manipulated by Russian intelligence. The speaker of the House, the Senate majority leader, and House majority leader all issued statements pushing back against Trump’s comments about Russian interference — albeit without using the president’s name.
“The president must appreciate that Russia is not our ally,” said House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., in a statement.
The firestorm was reminiscent of some of the worst controversies to engulf Trump in his brief, unconventional political career, including the release of the lewd “Access Hollywood” tape just weeks before the 2016 election. Only this time, few Republicans within the mainstream of the party called for Trump’s resignation.
In fact, on Tuesday, Alabama voters will head to the polls to decide a runoff primary election Republican Rep. Martha Roby almost certainly would have avoided had it not been for her harsh criticism of Trump in the “Access Hollywood” aftermath. Roby is now running with Trump’s endorsement, a game-changer in some recent GOP primaries.
Republican strategists are worried Trump’s comments will hurt the party in the upcoming elections by energizing Democrats and demoralizing soft GOP voters. Republicans on Capitol Hill overwhelmingly disagree with Trump on both Russian meddling and warmer relations with Putin.
Just as was the case with tariffs, however, they are loathe to pick a fight with Trump ahead of the midterm elections. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., was an exception. “Today’s press conference in Helsinki was one of the most disgraceful performances by an American president in memory,” McCain said. “The damage inflicted by President Trump’s naivete, egotism, false equivalence, and sympathy for autocrats is difficult to calculate. But it is clear that the summit in Helsinki was a tragic mistake.”
“No prior president has ever abased himself more abjectly before a tyrant,” McCain added.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., warned Trump to inspect the soccer ball gifted by Putin for listening devices.
Yet Republicans watched “Access Hollywood” blow over in time for Trump to be elected president. They also saw the controversy over Trump’s reaction to Charlottesville subside, after he blamed “both sides” for the violence at a racist rally that left one counterprotester dead.
This time, Trump was coming off a NATO summit in which he clashed with traditional U.S. allies over a wide range of issues. Before heading to Brussels, Trump said Putin might be the “easiest” to deal with of the leaders he was meeting. Democrats had called for him to cancel a planned bilateral summit with Putin after Friday’s indictments against Russian nationals for stealing Democratic emails in a bid to sway public opinion during the 2016 election.
Instead, Trump hit the Democrats and special counsel Robert Mueller’s “witch hunt” much harder than Putin, whom he characterized as being “extremely strong and powerful in his denial today” of Russian meddling in the election.
“My people came to me — [National Intelligence Director] Dan Coats came to me and some others — they said they think it’s Russia,” Trump said. “I have President Putin; he just said it’s not Russia.”
“I will say this: I don’t see any reason why it would be [Russia], but I really do want to see the [Democratic National Committee’s email] server,” Trump added.
Trump’s press conference flop came just seven days after his nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, a move that united Republicans and conservatives behind him while putting “Never Trump” on the defensive. Critics on Monday said Trump vindicated the judgment of “Never Trumpers,” that he was temperamentally unfit to hold the presidency while Democrats cited it as fresh proof of collusion with Russian meddling in plain sight.
