Dem senator: Trump needs to confront Putin on Russian election meddling

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) said Thursday that President Trump needs to stop “pussyfooting” around the fact that Russia was involved in interfering in the 2016 election.

Speaking to NBC’s Meet The Press, Klobuchar dismissed Trump’s attacks aimed at former President Obama for not doing more during his time to stop election interference and ripped Trump for not working harder to pass a Senate bill aimed at enforcing tougher sanctions on Russia.

“I think it would have been much more powerful to have that sanctions bill in his hand, and have that signed that into law and not pussyfoot around the fact that it was Russia that tried to interfere in our elections, as the president did in his answers to the questions,” Klobuchar said Thursday.

“And Vladimir Putin was listening to every word he said,” she continued.

Klobuchar said that while she appreciated Trump’s speech recommitting the U.S. to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and NATO Article 5 — which states that a threat to one member country is a threat to the rest of the nations — “what matters is what [Trump] says behind closed doors.”

“We just haven’t seen that kind of strength from this administration when it comes to Russia and I believe Putin is someone who listens to power,” she said.

Trump is set to have his first meeting with Putin at the G-20 Summit in Germany on Friday morning, but it’s unclear what the two world leaders will discuss.