Sen. Schumer Urges Trump to Cancel Putin Meeting

Shortly after Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein announced the indictment of 12 Russian intelligence officials in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) called for President Trump to cancel his one-on-one meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. “President Trump should cancel his meeting with Vladimir Putin until Russia takes demonstrable and transparent steps to prove that they won’t interfere in future elections,” he wrote in a statement. “Glad-handing with Vladimir Putin on the heels of these indictments would be an insult to our democracy.” Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) also came out against the meeting, writing in a statement that if Trump “is not prepared to hold Putin accountable, the summit in Helsinki should not move forward.” Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI) shared similar sentiments in a statement, saying that Trump should cancel “in light of this stunning indictment[.]” Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) told CNN that the president shouldn’t have a one-on-one meeting with Putin. “There need to be other Americans in the room,” he said. The 12 officers indicted are accused of hacking the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the Democratic National Committee, and the 2016 presidential campaign of Hillary Clinton. They also are accused of creating the personas of DCLeaks and Guccifer 2.0 to disseminate the stolen information. Trump is set to meet with Putin in Helsinki on Monday in their first bilateral meet-up.