Republican lawmakers were hopeful Monday that President Trump’s first overseas trip would help the White House get back on track after a tumultuous two weeks that saw Trump fire FBI Director James Comey, which prompted the Justice Department to establish an independent counsel to probe Trump’s alleged ties to Russia.
A group of lawmakers have praised Trump’s trip thus far, especially his speech in Saudi Arabia on Sunday when he called on the Muslim world to help combat Islamic extremism in the Middle East. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., a noted critic of the president, said Monday that he has been encouraged by the trip.
“As far as I can see, it’s been very successful,” McCain told reporters at the Capitol before bashing the Obama administration for the “chaos” it left behind.
“It’s interesting, the warmth with which he was greeted is a testimony to the absolute failure of the Obama administration,” McCain said. “And basically their alienation of these countries, whether it be Israel or whether it be any of the Middle Eastern countries, and their sense of alienation is totally justified. We have a world in chaos thanks to leading from behind.”
McCain also said he hopes and believes the trip could help the president turn things around after a fraught two weeks, during which he said that the saga surrounding Trump and Comey had reached a “Watergate size and scale.” McCain walked back that statement on Monday.
“I think, yes, I have reason to believe,” McCain said before taking yet another shot at the Obama foreign policy team. “Particularly with a national security team that President Trump has around him rather than some failed songwriter,” he said, referring to former Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes.
Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., another Trump critic, said Monday that while he hadn’t seen what happened during Trump’s stop in Israel, he thought the Sunday speech was a positive step for the White House and administration.
“I thought the speech was a decent speech. I thought it struck the right tone,” Flake said, adding that he hopes the trip could get him back on track.
“I hope so,” Flake said. “I hope we can do more things here. That’ll make it easier.”
House members were also boosted by Trump’s speech. Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., said the speech was a “tremendous success” and said the trip as a whole could allow the House to focus as it looks ahead to tax reform and to seeing what the Senate does on healthcare.
“Extremely helpful. I think there are very few Republicans who aren’t going to be pleased with the president’s performance,” Cole said. “I think it’s been exceptional. … We’ll just let him keep going.”
Some, however, declined to go further when asked if it could be a turning point. Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, repeated three times that the president gave a “very good speech” in Saudi Arabia, but declined to go any further than that.
Just last week, Corker said that the White House was in a “downward spiral” after The Washington Post reported that Trump divulged classified information during a meeting with the Russian foreign minister and ambassador.
The comments Monday from lawmakers also came just as reports surfaced that Trump asked Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats and Adm. Mike Rogers, the director of the National Security Agency, to help him knock down reports that the FBI was investigating possible coordination between his campaign and the Russians.
Trump will spend a second day in Israel on Tuesday before departing for Rome and the Vatican, where he will meet with Pope Francis.
