WASHINGTON, DC – Today, after the Trump Administration and Russia announced plans for a July 16 Trump-Putin summit and President Trump sent another gullible tweet seeking to cast doubt on U.S. intelligence assessments that Russia meddled in the 2016 presidential contest, U.S. Senator Jack Reed (D-RI), the Ranking Member of the Armed Services Committee, issued the following statement:

“It should concern all Americans that President Trump is eager to stage a summit with Vladimir Putin right on the heels of a critical NATO meeting in Brussels.  This decision to cozy up to Vladimir Putin right now is ill-advised, ill-conceived, and if past summits are any indication, President Trump will be ill-prepared.  Instead of focusing on rebuilding NATO alliance unity after his disastrous performance at the G-7 summit, President Trump seems more interested in another photo-op with an authoritarian ruler seeking to harm America’s and the West’s interests. 

“We should be concerned that President Trump to this day is still willing to unquestioningly accept the word of Vladimir Putin over the assessment by Trump’s own intelligence officials that Russia interfered in our election to undermine democracy and help Donald Trump.  If the President is that naive about Russia’s intentions and malign activities, then he should not be trying to cut deals with a former KGB spymaster like Putin.  The President’s “attitude” will not be enough to confront Putin on Russia’s aggression against the United States and our allies.  

“Indeed, we’ve never had an American President so inexplicably eager to personally please Russia’s head of state.  We cannot afford for President Trump to give away concessions, as he did in Singapore, that potentially undermine the strength of our alliances and cast doubt on our commitment to our partners’ security and sovereignty.   

“Regardless of what President Trump says publicly or privately to Mr. Putin, Congress has made it very clear on a bipartisan basis that the United States remains committed to our mutual defense obligations within NATO and to deterring Russian aggression against our European allies and partners.”