Trump urged to press Putin on Russian election interference

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump faced pressure to aggressively question Russian President Vladimir Putin on meddling by Moscow in the 2016 presidential election when the two leaders meet Monday in Helsinki.

Trump said Sunday he had “low expectations” for any major breakthroughs. "Nothing bad is going to come out of it, and maybe some good will come out," Trump told CBS News anchor Jeff Glor.

Trump has had warm words for Putin and has been willing to accept his denials of election meddling at face value. But last week, the Justice Department announced the indictments of 12 Russian agents for hacking into Democratic emails during the campaign.

Trump’s national security adviser, John Bolton, called the Russian interference a “serious matter” and said Sunday he was skeptical of Putin's claims that he had no knowledge of it.

“I find it hard to believe, but that’s what one of the purposes of this meeting is, so the president can see eye-to-eye with President Putin and ask him about it,’’ Bolton told ABC's "This Week."

On "Face the Nation," Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., and Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said the details laid out in the indictments – which are part of the investigation led by special counsel Robert Mueller – underscored the importance of confronting Putin.

“I think the president should be clear-eyed about who he is dealing with,” said Cornyn, the No. 2 Senate Republican. “Putin is an autocrat. He's a thug. He does not respect the rule of law. Obviously, he doesn't respect our democracy and wants to undermine it at every – every chance he gets.”

Gowdy’s advice to Trump was to press for the extradition of the Russians accused in the latest indictment and of 13 who were charged in an earlier indictment with using social media to interfere in the U.S. election.

“Your first request of Vladimir Putin needs to be, tell us which airport we can pick up the 25 Russians that tried to interfere with the fundamentals of our democracy,” Gowdy said.

Trump has repeatedly called Mueller’s investigation a “witch hunt.” Over the weekend, he blamed President Barack Obama and the Democratic National Committee for leaving the Democratic email servers vulnerable to hacking.

Trump has said he would bring up the election issue, but he suggested he sees little point in doing so since Putin was likely to deny involvement in any meddling.

He told Glor that he “hadn't thought about” asking Putin for the extradition of the Russian agents, but he said he might bring it up.

Democrats called on Trump to cancel the meeting with Putin. They expressed alarm at Trump’s decision to lash out at European allies at last week’s NATO summit. NATO was formed as a bulwark against Russian aggression.

“I'm very concerned about a one-on-one meeting between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump,” said Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., on NBC's "Meet the Press." He said Trump was not well enough prepared for the meeting. “In Putin, you've got a trained KGB agent who does his homework.”

Trump went a step further in his criticisms of Europe in the CBS interview, calling the European Union a “foe” because of what he said was unfairness on trade.

Trump’s meetings in Helsinki are scheduled to begin at 1:20 p.m. local time (6:20 a.m. EDT). The talks are likely to be followed by a joint news conference.

KIRO