Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said Friday that President Trump must confront Russian President Vladimir Putin over election meddling or abandon a planned summit next week following U.S. criminal indictments of a dozen Russian military operatives.
McCain, who is the Senate Armed Services chairman, said the indictments of the Russians by special counsel Robert Mueller are part of a growing body of evidence showing Putin plotted to attack the 2016 presidential election.
“President Trump must be willing to confront Putin from a position of strength and demonstrate that there will be a serious price to pay for his ongoing aggression towards the United States and democracies around the world,” McCain said in a statement. “If President Trump is not prepared to hold Putin accountable, the summit in Helsinki should not move forward.”
The comments come as Trump is under increasing pressure to take a harder approach toward Putin when they meet Monday in Finland, and as a wave of congressional Democrats called for him to cancel the first summit between the two leaders.
[More: Trump pressured to cancel Putin meeting after new Russia indictments]
Trump was briefed on the indictments earlier this week, according to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who announced the Russian indictments Friday, and on Thursday the president called Putin a competitor but not an enemy of the U.S.
The indictments allege that the Russian military hacked into Democratic computers systems during the 2016 election and strategically released stolen emails in an attempt to sway the election results.
“Despite repeated warnings from our nation’s top intelligence and military leaders, the Kremlin’s efforts to weaken our institutions have continued unabated with insufficient action taken by the administration or Congress to strengthen our cyber defenses, safeguard our election systems, and deter further destabilizing activities,” said McCain, who has been at home in Arizona receiving treatment for brain cancer since December.
