Illinois Dems Blast Trump On Twitter After Summit With Putin
CHICAGO (CBS) -- One Illinois Republican joined a group of congressional Democrats, denouncing President Trump for refusing to acknowledge U.S. law enforcement and intelligence conclusions that Russia interfered with the 2016 U.S. election.
Following a day of discussions with Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, Finland, Mr. Trump avoided holding Putin accountable.
"All I can do is ask the question - my people came to me, [intelligence director] Dan Coats came to me and some others, they said they think it's Russia. I have President Putin, he just said it's not Russia. I will say this, I don't see any reason why it would be but I really want to see the server but, I have confidence in both parties," Mr. Trump said.
He went so far as to say that Putin's denial of having been involved in the election was "extremely strong and powerful."
The Democrats on Twitter called Trump's news conference "shameful," "disgraceful" and even treasonous.
This is from Sen. Tammy Duckworth:
Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-16th District) was one of the only Illinois Republican congressional members to criticize Trump, but did not mention him directly in this Tweet:
Rep. Bobby Rush (D-1st District) blasted the president for going to dangerous lengths to develop his 'bromance' with Putin.
Rep. Robin Kelly (D-2nd District) said, "You just can make this stuff up."
Rep. Mike Quigley (D-5th District) tweeted the president has a "funny way of putting America First."
Rep. Danny Davis (D-7th District) tweeted agreement with former CIA Director John Brennan who said Trump's press conference "was nothing short of treasonous."
Rep. Dan Lipinski (D-3rd District) did not tweet directly on Trump's summit news conference, but retweeted this on Monday:
Rep. Brad Schneider (D-10th District) called Trump's performance "shameful."
Rep. Bill Foster (D-11th District) called it a sad day for democracy.
Prior to the end of the summit, Sen. Dick Durbin (D), said Trump plays into Putin's hands with tweets about the Mueller investigation.
Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-9th District) : "This goes beyond incompetence and it borders on treason."
Rep Luis Gutierrez (D-4th District) said he planned to redraft articles of impeachment against the president.
A second Illinois congressional Republican, Peter Roskam, did not issue a statement on Twitter, but emailed:
"Russia's interference with our democratic process is appalling and undeniable. The President has a responsibility to not only confront Vladimir Putin for attacking our democracy, but to use all tools available to prevent future acts of aggression that could undermine the cornerstone of our republic – free and fair elections."
