As Trump Struggles With Helsinki's Fallout, Congress Faces a New Charge: Complicity (NYT) [View all]

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https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/22/us/politics/congressional-republicans-trump-russia.html

As Trump Struggles With Helsinki’s Fallout, Congress Faces a New Charge: Complicity
By Nicholas Fandos and Sheryl Gay Stolberg
July 22, 2018

WASHINGTON — In the nearly two years since Russia attacked the American democratic process, congressional Republicans have played conflicting roles in the drama: Some have pressed to impose sanctions on Russia and quietly pursue investigations, but they have been outshouted by Republicans who have obfuscated and undercut efforts to uncover the Kremlin’s plot.

Now, as they grapple with the political and foreign policy fallout from President Trump’s disastrous summit meeting in Helsinki, Finland, with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, all Republicans, regardless of their stance so far, are facing a charge that goes beyond the White House: complicity. ...

“The road to the Helsinki disaster was paved by Republican inaction every time Trump overstepped,” said Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader. “Their silence, their acquiescence to things they know are wrong have given Trump the extra jolt he needed.” ...

The Helsinki meeting, where Mr. Trump stood shoulder to shoulder with Mr. Putin and signaled he accepted the Russian president’s denials, might have been a turning point for the party. But in the days that have followed, it seems only to have reinforced the competing positions.

“No prior president has ever abased himself more abjectly before a tyrant,” Mr. McCain said in the wake of the summit meeting.

But a day later, at a regular forum hosted by the Freedom Caucus, lawmakers close to Mr. Trump declared the meeting a success, pinning blame not on his performance but on the reporters who had the audacity to ask the two leaders about the attacks.