Coffman, Gardner, Bennet join congressional chorus critical of Trump siding with Russia; Jason Crow makes it a campaign issue

WASHINGTON | Key members of Congress, including some Colorado Republicans, are criticizing President Donald Trump’s performance at a press conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin as “bizarre,” ”shameful” and a “missed opportunity” to stand up to Russia.

Democrats are seizing on the controversy as a likely campaign issue.

“Whether it be chemical attacks on our allied soil, the invasion of Ukraine, propping up the murderer Assad in Syria, or meddling in our elections through cyber-attacks, Vladimir Putin’s Russia remains an adversary to the United States,” Colorado GOP Sen. Cory Gardner said in a statement.

Gardner is sponsoring legislation that would force government to be critical of Russian activities and hold them accountable for what he says are critical problems. While critical of looking away from Russia’s involvement in world troubles, he was not directly critical of Trump’s siding with Russia against the U.S. intelligence and justice departments, which have pinned crimes on Putin’s Russian government.

“I encourage the Administration to avoid the mistakes of past Administrations in normalizing relations with Russia at zero cost to Putin and his regime,” Gardner said. “Nothing should change as of today – Putin’s Russia is not a friend to the United States.”

House Speaker Paul Ryan delivered a strongly worded statement, saying there’s “no question” that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election, and noting that U.S. intelligence agencies and a House panel agreed.

Colorado Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet echoed that harsher criticism in a statement.

“Today, President Trump failed to hold Vladimir Putin to account even on the most straightforward national security threats,” Bennet said.

“By taking Vladimir Putin at his word—when it directly contradicts the U.S. intelligence community’s assessment and the investigations of Russia’s interference in the 2016 election—President Trump not only has failed to protect our democracy, but also has emboldened Russia and other adversaries at the expense of our allies,” Bennet said.

Other members of Congress went further.

“Trump has, indeed, become Putin’s puppet,” said Denver Democratic Congresswoman Diana DeGette in a tweet.  “It is dangerous, disingenuous & absurd for a U.S. president to take the word of #Putin over our intelligence community. Further, @POTUS statements undermining @FBI and shifting blame for Russian misdeeds are outrageous.”

Aurora GOP Congressman Mike Coffman called out Trump for giving Russia equal or better influence over American intelligence sources.

“Putin’s Russia isn’t our friend, won’t be an ally and most certainly won’t stop their rogue behavior against our country, our allies and our interests,” Coffman said in a statement.  “As I’ve said in the past — President Trump should never take Putin’s word at face value and should give greater consideration to U.S. Intelligence agencies over the Kremlin’s rhetoric.”

Criticism continues to build.

Coffman’s Democratic opponent Jason Crow, a former Army ranger, indicated the summit ordeal would become a campaign issue. He said that while he objects to Trump’s comments, Coffman isn’t the “check” to the president he’s promised.

“As a veteran who defended our flag overseas, it’s shocking to see President Trump side with a hostile foreign adversary over the hardworking Americans in his own intelligence community,” Crow said in a written comment. “This community has provided clear warnings that Vladimir Putin is actively undermining our democracy. No matter what Mike Coffman says today, he simply hasn’t served as a check on our President. It has never been more important to bring in a new generation of leaders who are willing to stand with our allies and stand up to our enemies.”

Coffman also used his military service to ding Trump.

“As a Marine Corps combat veteran, and member of the House Armed Services Committee, I don’t take lightly my oath to defend our country against enemies foreign and domestic, and neither should the president,” Coffman said. “Both Bush and Obama learned this the hard way in their first terms.”

“The president must appreciate that Russia is not our ally,” Ryan said, in what was, for the mild-mannered speaker, akin to a reprimand. Ryan said Russia “remains hostile to our most basic values and ideals.”

Other high-profile Republicans also expressed dismay.

“I never thought I would see the day when our American President would stand on the stage with the Russian President and place blame on the United States for Russian aggression,” tweeted Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz. “This is shameful.”

Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., called it “bizarre” and “flat-out wrong” for Trump to suggest that both the U.S. and Russia are to blame for the deteriorated state of the two countries’ relationship.

Even Trump’s sometimes ally Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina called the summit a “missed opportunity by President Trump to firmly hold Russia accountable for 2016 meddling and deliver a strong warning regarding future elections.”

Graham quipped that Trump ought to check a soccer ball Putin gave to Trump for listening devices, “and never allow it in the White House.”

The Republican rebuke from Capitol Hill came largely from those lawmakers who have been willing to openly criticize the president. But key Republicans, Democrats and others in Washington appeared stunned that Trump refused to publicly condemn Russian interference in the 2016 election or warn against future meddling during the joint press conference with Putin in Finland.

Trump appeared to take the Russian president’s denial of interference at face value while calling the U.S.’s own Justice Department special counsel’s probe as a “disaster.” That U.S. investigation, led by special counsel Robert Mueller, unveiled an indictment Friday against 12 Russian intelligence officers accused of hacking Democratic emails during the 2016 campaign.

At the joint appearance in Finland with Putin, Trump repeated the Russian leader’s denials about involvement in the election.

“He just said it’s not Russia,” Trump said of Putin. “I will say this: I don’t see any reason why it would be.”

Former intelligence chiefs who served under President Barack Obama were scathing in their criticism of his remarks. John Brennan, who served as CIA director between 2013 and January 2017, called the president’s comments “treasonous.”

“Donald Trump’s press conference performance in Helsinki rises to & exceeds the threshold of ‘high crimes & misdemeanors.’ It was nothing short of treasonous. Not only were Trump’s comments imbecilic, he is wholly in the pocket of Putin. Republican Patriots: Where are you???” Brennan tweeted.

James Clapper, who was director of national intelligence under Obama between 2010 and 2017, described Trump remarks as “truly unbelievable.”

“On the world stage in front of the entire globe the president of the United States essentially capitulated and seems intimidated by Vladimir Putin,” Clapper told CNN. “It was amazing and very, very disturbing.”

Clapper described Putin as an “arch enemy of the United States” who seeks to undermine its democracy and elections. “He has got to be celebrating on the way home to Moscow.”

Democrats sounded similar alarm. Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, tweeted, “For the President to side with Putin over his own intelligence officials and blame the United States for Russia’s attack on our democracy is a complete disgrace.”

Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., the minority leader, says never in the history of the country has a president supported an American adversary the way Trump supported Putin. “For the president of the United States to side with President Putin against American law enforcement, American defense officials, and American intelligence agencies is thoughtless, dangerous, and weak.”

Yet while Trump’s remarks drew criticism in both parties, the reaction was more muted from the Republican side. Key GOP lawmakers at least initially refrained from directly attacking Trump’s performance, and at least one echoed the president’s criticism of the special counsel probe.

Rep. Darrell Issa of California he takes the charges filed by Mueller’s team seriously, but added, “I personally would neither rule in nor rule out the validity of a very interesting and odd-timed indictment of people who can never be brought to justice.”

The Sentinel contributed to this story.