One of the most surprising things about the jaw-dropping joint press conference[1] given by US president Donald Trump and Russian president Vladimir Putin on Monday is that it compelled a Democratic and a Republican member of Congress to admit, before a room full of press and international lawmakers, that they agree with each other.
Seated side by side at a summit held by the Atlantic Council in Washington, DC, senators Mark Warner (D-Virginia) and Marco Rubio (R-Florida) both cast Trump's appearance in Helsinki as a major setback in the fight against Russian interference in elections around the world. Just hours before, Trump had stood beside Putin in Helsinki and expressed doubts about whether Russia interfered with the US election in 2016, despite the fact that the US Department of Justice issued an indictment[2] against a dozen Russian intelligence agents last week.
"[Director of National Intelligence] Dan Coats came to me and others and said, I think it's Russia. I have President Putin. He said it's not Russia. I will say this: I don't see any reason why it would be," Trump said.
Warner said the president's remarks were "outrageous," while Rubio described them as flat-out wrong. "What the president said today is not accurate," Rubio said. "The intelligence community has assembled probably an unparalleled amount of evidence."
Responding to the president's remarks in a separate statement, Coats said, "We have been clear in our assessments of Russian meddling in the 2016 election and their ongoing, pervasive efforts to undermine our democracy, and we will continue to provide unvarnished and objective intelligence in support of our national security."
"Vladimir Putin is not interested in a better working relationship with the United States."
Senator Marco Rubio
In the indictment[3] of 12 Russian