‘My First Question, Sir, is Who Do You Believe?’

“Who do you believe? Would you now, with the whole world watching, tell President Putin, would you denounce what happened in 2016, and would you warn him to never do it again?” -Associated Press reporter Jonathan Lemire to U.S. President Donald Trump

Monday’s press conference in Helsinki between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin continues to play out 12 hours later. For more than two hours the president of the United States met privately with the Russian president with no interpreters and no witnesses.

From the Washington Post:

Administration officials had hoped that maybe, just maybe, Monday’s summit between President Trump and Russian President Vladmir Putin would end differently — without a freewheeling 46-minute news conference in which Trump attacked his own FBI on foreign soil and warmly praised archrival Russia.

Ahead of the meeting, staffers provided Trump with some 100 pages of briefing materials aimed at laying out a tough posture toward Putin, but the president ignored most of it, according to one person familiar with the discussions, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to disclose internal deliberations. Trump’s remarks were “very much counter to the plan,” the person said.

Comments from Americans….

“The role of the Intelligence Community is to provide the best information and fact-based assessments possible for the President and policymakers. 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.” —Dan Coats, Director of National Intelligence

“President Trump must clarify his statements in Helsinki on our intelligence system and Putin. It is the most serious mistake of his presidency and must be corrected—-immediately.” —Newt Gingrich, former U.S. House Speaker

“This was a huge victory for Putin and the Russians, and a tremendous embarrassment for the U.S. One can only ask why President Trump refused to listen to his advisors and hold the Russians accountable for their obvious efforts to influence the outcome of the 2016 elections. He could have easily done that and still denied any collusion between the Russians and his campaign. This is simply mind boggling.” —Former Virginia Lieutenant Governor Bill Bolling

“We’ve seen time and again that Russia will stop at nothing to interfere with and undermine our system of government. U.S. intelligence agencies have confirmed Russia’s actions, and the evidence is plentiful. Today’s summit in Helsinki was an opportunity to forcefully address this growing threat directly with President Putin. I am dismayed that we did not see that.–Rep. Bob Goodlatte (VA-06)

“No prior president has ever abased himself more abjectly before a tyrant. President Trump proved not only unable, but unwilling to stand up to Putin.” —Sen. John McCain (AZ), Chairman, Senate Armed Services Committee

“Donald Trump’s press conference performance in Helsinki rises to & exceeds the threshold of “high crimes & misdemeanors.” It was nothing short of treasonous. Not only were Trump’s comments imbecilic, he is wholly in the pocket of Putin. Republican Patriots: Where are you???” —John Brennan, former CIA Director

“This is hands down the worst day of the entire Trump presidency. A dark day for any patriot who is a defender of freedom and democracy. I should be less shocked but somehow I still am.” —Meghan McCain

“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.” —Sen. Jeff Flake (AZ)

“Vladimir Putin ruthlessly persecutes those who preach the gospel of Jesus Christ, holds orphans hostage from waiting families for his political purposes, murders dissidents and journalists, attacks democratic institutions and nations. Morality is not relative.” —Russell Moore, president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention

“That’s by far the most ridiculous tweet of late. That is insulting to past administrations—he can’t be saying that going into the Russian summit.” —Brian Kilmeade, host, Fox & Friends (after Donald Trump tweeted, “Our relationship with Russia has NEVER been worse thanks to many years of U.S. foolishness and stupidity and now, the Rigged Witch Hunt!”)

And then there’s this from David Duke, white supremacist and white nationalist politician (Louisiana House of Representatives), anti-Semitic conspiracy theorist, Holocaust denier, convicted felon, and former grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan (as noted in Wikipedia)….

“In my lifetime I have never seen such a courageous attack on the whole of the ZOG, the Zionist Occupied Government of the United States and the Zionist Occupied Media! Today Trump is a Hero! Trump is no Jesus but they hate him as much!!!!!!

“Bravo Trump! Bravo Russia! Bravo to all the true American Patriots who put America first and Peace and Justice first before the Zionist Deep Evil State ruling American Media and Politics.

“Russia has values America once had and America the values that Communist Russia had!” —David Duke, former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard

Background….

-Washington Post: Fox News’s Chris Wallace gives Putin the grilling Trump won’t
-CNN: Trump clashes with intelligence chief over Russian threat
-Brookings Institute: Brookings experts react to the Trump-Putin meeting and NATO summit
-NPR: ‘Disgraceful,’ ‘Pushover,’ ‘Deeply Troubled’: Reaction To The Trump-Putin Summit
-Fox: Putin eats Trump’s lunch in Helsinki — This is no way to win against Russia
-Washington Post: The facts missing from Trump and Putin’s news conference
-Just Security: Helsinki Summit: A Time for Choosing—Three observations by former senior CIA officer
-Vox: Transcript from Helsinki news conference
-The Hill: David Duke praises Trump for Putin press conference

Update #1: From Brit Hume of Fox News….

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