Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., urged President Trump on Monday to declare Russia an “enemy of America and our allies” ahead of the leaders’ summit in Helsinki.
Trump tweeted early Monday that the U.S. relationship with Russia has “NEVER been worse,” blaming his predecessors for their “foolishness and stupidity,” as well as special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
[Russia agrees with Trump: US is to blame for worse-than-ever relations]
“A better thing, Mr. President, would be to declare: ‘Russia is the enemy of America and our allies, and we will expose and respond to their continued cyber-attacks against our nation,’” Sasse responded.
A better thing, Mr. President, would be to declare: “Russia is the enemy of America and our allies, and we will expose and respond to their continued cyber-attacks against our nation.” https://t.co/qNvgGRA58T
— Ben Sasse (@BenSasse) July 16, 2018
Sasse has been frequently critical of Trump, especially his policies toward Russia. Sasse called on Trump to cancel the meeting with Putin after Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein announced the indictments of 12 Russian intelligence officials accused into hacking into computers owned by the Democratic Party and Hillary Clinton’s campaign.
“I don’t think President Trump should be dignifying Putin with this meeting,” Sasse tweeted Sunday.
7. I don’t think President Trump should be dignifying Putin with this meeting. When Reagan met with Gorbachev, he did so from a position of strength & moral clarity about the evil empire that the Soviet Union was, and w/ a clear purpose to end the Soviet Union’s threat to the US.
— Ben Sasse (@BenSasse) July 16, 2018
[Also read: Trump says ‘enemy of the people’ journalists will misreport Putin summit]
