[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 119 (Monday, July 16, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Page S4959]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                           Trump-Putin Summit

  Mr. NELSON. Mr. President, almost everybody in the world knows by now 
that the President met with Vladimir Putin today. While nobody knows 
what the two Presidents said in their private meeting, what they said 
afterward certainly should alarm all of us.
  President Trump refused, once again, to accept the fact that Russia, 
at Putin's order, interfered in our elections. What the President said 
was alarming, it was embarrassing, and it is unacceptable. We know 
Putin interfered, and we know he will do it again in our upcoming 
elections. This is from the unanimous report of the intelligence 
community of this country and was reaffirmed earlier today by the 
Director of National Intelligence, former Senator Dan Coats, who was 
President Trump's appointee.
  In its January 2017 assessment, the IC assessed that Russian 
President Putin ordered an influence campaign in the 2016 election, 
which was aimed at the U.S. Presidential election. That assessment 
described the campaign as a mix of cyber operations that were conducted 
by Russian intelligence services in its overt use of propaganda and 
fake social media accounts and trolls.
  Take it from President Trump's own administration. Then-Director of 
the CIA and now-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo acknowledged the Russian 
interference. He stood by the intelligence community's assessments, and 
that was a year and a half ago. He even said he had every expectation 
that Russia would continue to try to interfere in our elections.
  A few days ago, Dan Coats, who is the Director of the DNI, said:

       The warning lights are blinking red again. . . . The 
     digital infrastructure that serves this country is literally 
     under attack.

  Just this past Friday, the Justice Department announced the 
indictment of 12 Russian intelligence officers for hacking the Clinton 
campaign and the DNC. This is just the latest in a series of 
indictments.
  Today, though, the President, while standing right next to Vladimir 
Putin, said that while the men and women of the U.S. intelligence 
community concluded with high confidence that Putin did, indeed, 
interfere in our elections, President Trump said:

       [President Putin] said it's not Russia. I don't see any 
     reason why it would be.

  That is rather curious.
  Even worse, the President stood next to Putin and said the United 
States was to blame for the Russian aggression. Let me repeat that. The 
President stood next to Putin and said the United States was to blame 
for the Russian aggression. This Senator believes our own intelligence 
community, not a former KGB spy and colonel who is bent on undermining 
democracy and the rule of law around the world, is whom you ought to 
believe.
  What does a spy do? In order to achieve a spy's ends, the spy lies. 
That is what and how Vladimir Putin was trained, and it is obvious he 
is no friend of the United States.
  There has been a lot of discussion about Russia, and I know that, at 
times, it can be confusing to everyday folks. Yet amidst all of the 
talk and the disinformation, it is critically important that we don't 
lose sight of the threat to our democracy. That is what Russian 
interference in our elections is. It is an attack on the very 
foundation of our democratic institutions. Of course, that is what 
Putin is trying to do--invade our own democracy in order to divide us; 
it is to undermine our own faith in our own institutions, and to 
ultimately undermine American leadership in the world.
  This should not be a partisan issue in America, in our domestic 
politics. I hope we come together quickly, in a bipartisan way, to 
defend ourselves and to finally push back on Putin. I hope we insist 
that the White House enforces all of the economic sanctions the 
Congress has already pushed through but that the White House has been 
very slow to enact. I hope this Congress is also going to enact more 
economic sanctions and get them to where they will really start causing 
a crimp in the step of the Russian leaders. Why not start freezing the 
bank accounts of some of its highest leaders?
  First, the United States, led by our President, has to see the enemy 
and the threat for what they are. Now, going on 2 years into his 
administration, the President is unwilling to stand up to Putin--man-
to-man, eyeball-to-eyeball--and to defend our country.
  I yield the floor.