We are occasionally seeing some prominent Republicans raise red flags this week when it comes to Donald Trump’s meeting with Vladimir Putin. Today Senator Lindsey Graham, a sometimes friend and golf buddy of Trump, is talking about his concerns.
-On giving the Russian President the upper hand Graham said:
“You want to be somewhat diplomatic. You are standing right by the guy. We have to deal with him. I don’t mind him dealing with Russia, but I want to deal from a position of strength. This was a missed opportunity. We reinforced a narrative that is bad for us as a nation, it came across weak.”
-Whether Trump and Putin made any deals during their secret meeting:
“I do expect is for the administration and the president eventually to tell us were any agreements reached. I don’t care what they talked about. I care about what we do. You can talk to Putin all day long. Here’s what I want to know, what did you agree to do with him and give us a chance to see if we think it makes any sense. “
-The idea that the US and Russia work together to investigate cyber crimes:
“I do know this, the concept of allowing the Russians to interview a former ambassador of Russia, United States Ambassador to Russia, is absurd. And the concept of letting American citizens being investigated for crimes that are just I think are jokes is absurd. And I don’t believe there is one member — I challenge you to find one member of the house and senate that believe this is is a good idea.”
Take a look at what else Graham said above, but also take it with a big grain of salt. Just last night the South Carolina Senator tweeted that he bought Trump’s admission that he misspoke in Finland.
These statements tonight by @POTUS will allow us to move forward to more effectively secure our 2018 election and deal with threats coming from Russia and other potential bad actors.
We need to take constructive action to protect ourselves for the next election cycle.
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) July 19, 2018