Washington – The Republican leaders in Congress are distancing themselves from President Donald Trump’s invitation for Vladimir Putin to visit Washington in the fall, saying the Russian president is not welcome on Capitol Hill.
Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell have shown no interest in holding meetings with Putin if he accepts Trump’s invitation to the White House to follow up on last week’s summit in Helsinki.
“The speaker and I have made it clear that Putin will not be welcome up here at the Capitol,” McConnell told reporters Tuesday.
But it may not matter anyway. Putin’s foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov threw cold water on the prospect of Putin accepting Trump’s invitation to visit the White House.
Ushakov told journalists in Moscow on Tuesday that no preparations were underway for a meeting in Washington and there were “other options that our leaders could consider,” such as the late November meeting of the Group of 20 in Argentina or another international event that both would attend.
Lawmakers from both parties have raised concerns about Trump’s approach to the Russian leader. They strongly rebuked Trump’s comments during a joint press conference in Helsinki when he stood beside Putin and denied U.S. intelligence findings that Russia interfered in the 2016 election. Trump has since clarified his remarks to side with the intelligence community.
“The Russians better quit messing around in our elections,” McConnell said.