Submitted by Rep. Rick Larsen’s office

Rep. Rick Larsen, D-Everett, a senior member of the House Armed Services Committee, issued the following statement in response to President Trump’s meeting with President Putin in Helsinki on July 16:

“Last week I said that President Trump should cancel his summit with President Putin because no president should meet with a foreign leader unless they are capable of standing up for the United States.

“After the president’s humiliating performance at the Summit, my response is simple: the U.S. cannot continue to come across as weak against Russia.

“President Trump refused to condemn Russia for any wrongdoing, giving President Putin a pass for meddling in the 2016 election, annexing Crimea, occupying eastern Ukraine, conducting nerve agent attacks in the United Kingdom and other adventurism.

“Instead, President Trump went out of his way to lay blame on both sides for the deterioration of the U.S.-Russia relationship and denied findings by the U.S. intelligence community of Russian intervention in the 2016 election on his behalf.

“I am glad there were no formal agreements, because any deal would likely have been disastrous. The president was unprepared and should not have met with President Putin. Moreover, I am deeply troubled by what may have been discussed during their private meeting.

“President Trump seems far more fixated on his personal relationship with President Putin than using U.S. power to affect change in Russian behavior. This Summit once again proved President Trump gives friends and allies the cold shoulder while a dictator gets a warm embrace.”