Trump pressured to cancel Putin meeting after new Russia indictments

[READ HERE: Mueller’s indictment against 12 Russians for hacking Democrats in 2016]

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., led Republican opposition to the meeting, saying the indictments complemented a body of evidence confirming an extensive plot by Russia to “sow chaos and dissention among the American electorate, and undermine faith in our democracy.”

“And 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,” McCain, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said in a statement.

“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,” he said. “If President Trump is not prepared to hold Putin accountable, the summit in Helsinki should not move forward.”

[White House: New indictments ‘consistent’ with Trump’s message about collusion]

Democratic leaders were also on board with the idea that the indictments against Russian officials is grounds for canceling the meeting.

“These indictments are further proof of what everyone but the president seems to understand: President Putin is an adversary who interfered in our elections to help President Trump win,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., wrote in a statement. “President Trump should cancel his meeting with Vladimir Putin until Russia takes demonstrable and transparent steps to prove that they won’t interfere in future elections. Glad-handing with Vladimir Putin on the heels of these indictments would be an insult to our democracy.”

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said a meeting between Trump and Putin “would be both pointless and dangerous” if it were to be held and Trump refused to condemn Russia over its actions.

“The Trump-Putin meeting must be canceled,” she said. “The President must finally put the integrity of our democracy before the interests of Putin.”

Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., told reporters Trump should not meet Putin alone because he could be “taken advantage of.”

“Going forward, there should be no one-on-one meeting between this president and Mr. Putin. There needs to be other Americans in the room,” Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said. “If the president and his team are not willing to make the facts of this indictment a top priority of the meeting in Helsinki, then the summit should be canceled.”

“I’ve been concerned for some time that the president’s ad hoc style of going into meetings and winging it isn’t appropriate, particularly when you’re dealing with someone like Vladimir Putin,” Warner added. “He will come in with his facts, with maps, and I’m afraid that actually the president could be taken advantage of.”

Sens. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Jack Reed, D-R.I., echoed the messages of their colleagues.

“I hope it’s high noon in Helsinki,” John Carlin, former chief of staff to cpecial counsel Robert Mueller during his tenure at the FBI, told CNBC on Friday, referring to the location where Trump and Putin will hold their summit next Monday. “This is a face-off between the leader of the free world and Putin’s Russia, who’s been determined to undermine democracy.”

The timing of Friday’s announcement – just 72 hours before Trump and Putin gather in Helsinki – led some to question whether it would impact the mood of their meeting, which Trump previously suggested might be the “easiest” part of his current tour through Europe. The president wrapped up a tense two-day visit to the United Kingdom on Friday, during which tens of thousands of London residents protests his arrival in the streets, and partook in the annual NATO summit in Brussels earlier this week.

“Thanks to Mueller’s indictments, it’ll be a lot harder for Trump to say he believes Putin, now that Mueller has provided evidence that the people behind the DNC and Clinton campaign email hacks were literally Russian spies,” Vox writer Alex Ward wrote Friday.

Republican Sen. Ben Sasse, a staunch critic of the president, said Trump should be careful not to treat Putin like his “buddy” when they meet next week.

“All patriotic Americans should understand that Putin is not America’s friend,” Sasse tweeted. “We should stand united against Putin’s past and planned future attacks against us.”

On the House side, Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., said that the planned summit should only take place when and if Putin takes responsibility for Russian interference in the 2016 presidential contest, while Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., was adamant that “enough was enough.”

Mueller’s indictment, returned Friday in federal court, alleged that the 12 Russian officials “engaged in a sustained effort” to break into computers owned by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the Democratic National Committee, and Hillary Clinton’s campaign.

Both the White House and Trump’s outside attorney Rudy Giuliani sought to portray the charges as a positive development in the course of an investigation they have otherwise condemned.

“The indictments Rod Rosenstein announced are good news for all Americans,” Giuliani tweeted. “The Russians are nailed. No good Americans are involved. Time for Mueller to end this pursuit of the President and say President Trump is completely innocent.”