President Donald Trump with his red tie is visible in the window of Marine One as it touches down on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Monday, July 16, 2018, after a short helicopter ride from Andrews Air Force Base, Md. Trump returns following a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, Finland. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
The following are statements from the Nevada congressional delegation on the Trump-Putin summit:
Sen. Dean Heller, Republican — “While I am not opposed to a dialogue between the two leaders, I trust our intelligence community’s assessment on Russian interference, not Vladimir Putin’s. He is no friend of the United States and I don’t trust him.”
Rep. Mark Amodei, Republican — “Rep. Amodei has made it clear on several occasions that he supports any process that gets to the bottom of these matters — including those surrounding the Russia investigation — as quickly as possible so Congress can continue focusing on the issues that are most important to the American people, like health care, immigration reform, and the economy.”
Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, Democrat: “(Trump’s) letting Putin off the hook for attacking our freedom and democracy. We need a president that protects the United States and stands up for Americans, not someone who is defending a dictator and our enemy. This is an embarrassment.”
Rep. Jacky Rosen, Democrat: “President Trump’s weak, embarrassing performance at the (summit) highlights again how far he’ll go to let Vladimir Putin walk all over our democracy. He placed his trust in a foreign adversary and undermined the U.S. intelligence community — that’s unacceptable.”
Rep. Dina Titus, Democrat: “The President of the United States of America just took to the podium and repeatedly attacked the United States while defending Russia — playing right into the hands of Vladimir Putin. The president of the United States was asked to name just one issue where Russia is to blame for the state of relations between our nations. He could not name one. Instead reverts to the (both sides) rhetoric he used to defend racists in Charlottesville.
“Responding to the question of Russia’s meddling in our elections, the president dismissed our own defense and intelligence agencies and instead retreated to a puppet-like response of Putin’s ‘strong and powerful’ denial. If this is what was said publicly I have grave concerns about what was discussed during the one-on-one meeting.”
Rep. Ruben Kihuen, Democrat: “President Trump embarrassed the U.S. at the (summit) and undermined our standing in the world by ignoring the overwhelming consensus of the intelligence community and siding with a brutal dictator, Vladimir Putin, while insulting the European Union, one of our key allies.”