Flake: Trump’s comments at press conference ‘shameful’

GOP Sen. Jeff Flake (Ariz.) blasted President Trump minutes after a joint press conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin, calling his rhetoric “shameful.”

I never thought I would see the day when our American President would stand on the stage with the Russian President and place blame on the United States for Russian aggression. This is shameful.

— Jeff Flake (@JeffFlake) July 16, 2018

Trump, during a closely watched press conference with Putin, took a swipe at special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe and said both the United States and Russia were to blame for the current soured state of relations between them.

{mosads}”I hold both countries responsible. I think that the United States has been foolish. I think we’ve all been foolish. … I think we’re all to blame,” he told a reporter at the press conference in Helsinki when asked if he held Russia accountable.

Trump also called Mueller’s probe a “disaster” and downplayed Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election.

Flake is one of several GOP lawmakers who immediately criticized Trump’s comments during the press conference.

GOP Sen. Ben Sasse (Neb.) called them “bizarre and flat-out wrong.”

While GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham (S.C.) warned that Trump’s rhetoric on election interference could paint the United States as weak and that the summit was a “missed opportunity.”

“Missed opportunity by President Trump to firmly hold Russia accountable for 2016 meddling and deliver a strong warning regarding future elections. This answer by President Trump will be seen by Russia as a sign of weakness and create far more problems than it solves,” he said in a tweet.

Finally, if it were me, I’d check the soccer ball for listening devices and never allow it in the White House.

— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) July 16, 2018

Neither Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) nor Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) immediately commented.