Trump-Putin Summit

Floor Speech

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Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, on Russia, a week ago today, President Trump met with President Putin in Helsinki, and with the world watching, failed to show an ounce of strength in defense of American interests.

What followed was an embarrassing week of insincere walk backs and mixed messages, culminating on Friday in a bizarre invitation for President Putin to visit the White House this fall--something the President's own Director of National Intelligence, Mr. Coats, was not made aware of. It is not hyperbolic to say that last week may have been one of the worst weeks in American foreign policy in recent memory.

In the face of these stunning events, what have my Republican colleagues done to rein in the President? I am sad to report, virtually nothing. In the full week since the Helsinki summit, Republicans failed to take meaningful action to hold the President accountable for his foreign policy blunders in Finland. Republicans have offered words of rebuke, statements, disappointed tweets, but they have not backed up any of those words with the force of action.

I have seen my colleagues shrug their shoulders as if there weren't anything the U.S. Senate could do to check this President, even though they feel in their hearts, I know, that he needs checking. I mentioned several ways the Senate could grapple with and push back a bit on what President Trump has done: bring in his national security team and translator to testify before Congress, particularly so we can tell what happened in that 2 hours when Putin and Trump were alone; pass legislation to protect the special counsel and legislation to harden our election infrastructure because we risk Russia's interference again; implement sanctions against Russia; demand that Russia hand over the 12 Russians indicted for election interference and more.

If my Republican friends were serious about doing something to redirect our posture toward Russia, we should have seen some movement by now on one or more of these things, but we are stuck in the mud. Even though there is bipartisan condemnation for the President's behavior last week, the Senate has remained virtually silent on the matter because Republicans here are unwilling, maybe afraid, to confront the President, even though they know what he did was so wrong.

At the end of last week, the Republican majority blocked a bipartisan resolution--a modest one from Senators Flake and Coons, one a Republican, one a Democrat--that sought to hold Russia accountable. It didn't have many teeth, but still the Republicans objected.

Are my Republican friends ever willing to push back against this President, not just in words but in deeds, or are they too afraid of the political consequences? Are they willing to put country over party at this crucial time? It seems not, at least so far.

I know many of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle were deeply disturbed by the President's inexplicable behavior in Helsinki. I say to them, America needs you now. We need you to stand up, step up to the plate, and do something about it.

Frankly, if we don't do something real, President Trump--I know him-- will conclude he doesn't need to change his behavior, and, as a result, Republicans will be complicit in enabling the President to continue down the disastrous course he has set.

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