Rounds Statement on Trump-Putin Meeting

Rounds Statement on Trump-Putin Meeting

WASHINGTON– U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Cybersecurity Subcommittee, issued the following statement about President Trump’s meeting with Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, Finland, earlier today. 

“Make no mistake: Russia is not our friend. Our poor relations are a direct result of their continued destabilizing behavior throughout the world. It is clear that Russia attempted to directly influence the 2016 election process. There is value in seeking to improve relations with Russia, but the U.S. must make clear that their irresponsible behavior on the world stage will not be tolerated.”

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37 thoughts on “Rounds Statement on Trump-Putin Meeting”

  1. You are confused, spineless is apologizing to the world for being the greatest, most powerful country in the world and as you know (well, you probably don’t know) that wasn’t Rounds or Trump… that was your cowardly god-king Obama.

  2. My favorite line from the presser was Putin’s:
    “Where did you get this idea that President Trump trusts me or that I trust him?”

    1. If they do have anything on Trump, yesterday Putin declared “these are nonsense.”

      So there you have it. Whatever Putin has on Trump is nonsense.

      It’s hard to blackmail somebody after you have publicly declared everything you’ve got on him is “nonsense.”

      1. This is absolutely shoddy reasoning. He stated the claim that he is blackmailing someone is nonsense. Admitting you are blackmailing someone kinda hinders your ability to blackmail them, right? Like, if you are privately pressuring someone to behave in a certain way based on damaging information about them, YA PROBABLY WOULDN’T LET THE PUBLIC KNOW THAT. Whether or not he is actually doing so (I have my doubts) is one thing, but what you wrote is silly.

        1. One of the most interesting things to come out of the presser was Putin’s announcement that the FBI will be allowed in to Russia to interrogate the Russians who have been named in the Mueller investigation, provided the KGB is allowed in to the United States to interrogate some unnamed people (US citizens?) they are interested in. Too bad the reporters were more interested in salacious material on Melania et al than in finding out who he wants interrogated.

      2. Is the wig on too tight or is the kool-aid too strong?

        That is the dumbest rational I’ve ever seen on this forum or Dakota Free Press… in fact that was so hysterically dumb I thought it would have come from Lora Hubble! Why would you say you have dirt on someone on the public stage?

        I sincerely hope that was sarcasm Anne-

        1. The actual quote was “we shouldnot proceed from immediate political interests that guide certain political powers in our countries, we should be guided by facts. Can you name a single fact that would definitely prove the collusion? These are nonsense.”

          He also stated that he “knows how dossiers are made,” and when Trump was in Moscow he was a private citizen, there were 500 American businessmen there and Trump was just one of them, and do you think the Russian federation was collecting info on all of them (well yeah, probably they were.)

          But when Putin was asked if he had compromising material on Trump or his family, the whole room erupted in laughter.

          1. Seriously? People need to wake up to the potential that there is more at play than what we truly know about.

            You don’t show your cards when you’be got a winning hand. Why would Putin out Trump as a pawn when he’s getting everything he wants?

            The U.S. is more isolated now than it’s ever been- at least since pre-WW I.

            Isolation is weakness. The president just slapped some of our closest allies in the face during his last dog and pony show.

        2. the big takeaway from monday was that putin really really really really really really really really hates bill browder, and really really really really really wants the magnitsky act gone so he can get all of his seized assets back. i think it amused him to look like the upright world community member, next to trump, i think putin didn’t want to be too greedy, he didn’t want to say anything not consistent with the adversarial relationship between the two countries. trump missed two distinct points where differences should have been immediately pointed up, but they weren’t terminal errors by any means. he seemed to forget about what browder means in the larger sense, that was most troubling to me.

  3. The European Union are our foes? How we treat our allies? A Chemical attack against a NATO member by Russia which could justify a military strike against Russia. A private meeting with a highly trained and former KGB agent?

    Party over Country?
    Power over Country?

      1. Watching the presser I noticed Trump very carefully used the word competitor, not adversary. I wonder how that translates to Russian and how the Russian version then translates back into English.

    1. Actually Trump said Peace over Politics.

      But don’t let the notions you got by not watching the presser yourself interfere with what CNN told you he said.

  4. Putin seemed pretty irritated by all the questions about Russia’s interference in our election, and Trump went on and on in his answer about it, way too long, so the message to Putin was, because you meddled in our election we can’t get anything done about Syria or supplying natural gas to the EU. If you want to get anything done, stop playing games.

  5. I could see a giant Baby Trump Blimp flying across American skies with Russian music playing.

    1. There would be an adult Putin blimp holding the Baby Trump’s tiny hands as they float over America.

  6. Look back at Obama’s weak responses to everything. No repercussions for crossing the dreaded “red line”; telling Putin to “cut it out” (oooohhh, I bet Putin was shaking in his boots); going overseas and proclaiming how bad America is (now please like us!); The idiotic (and incorrect “re-set” button).

    Also, Obama didn’t address the Russian interference that happened under his watch; he actually reduced our cyber response.

    I’m not sure what the left and never-Trumpers expected the president to do at the press conference. Was he suppose to call him a lying SOB right there?

    1. If Putin had given Obama a soccer ball the press would have been slobbering about how Obama was deserving of a second Nobel prize.

    2. “What about, what about, what about?” Leave that to Sean Hannity.

      Set aside the comparisons to a weak response from Obama and focus on the present. First Trump goes out of his way to insult our friends and isolate the US from 70 year old alliances and runs into the arms of a mega rich autocrat who’s control over his own country rivals Soviet leaders like Uncle Joe Stalin. What person in their right mind would go into a one-on-one meeting with our country’s (and more likely the free world’s) primary nemesis, without the benefit of diplomats and subject matter experts? Trump has sold out the US and its allies and unfortunately we can only speculate.

      Have you listened to or read any of Trump’s responses, and if you objectively listened or read them, can you honestly say that any of it is coherent? Putin’s playing a long game and Trump isn’t even playing checkers.

      1. The 80s are calling; they want their foreign policy back.

        It was Obama’s “reset” nonsense that emboldened Putin in the first place. Leading from behind didn’t work. It didn’t help that Obama was notified that the Russians were meddling in the election and nothing was done about it at the time. As Trump said at the presser “our relationship is the worst it’s ever been.”

    3. Yes- that would have been the American thing to do.

      A friend will tell you when you’re wrong.

  7. Let’s sum up what we know about Russian interference in the 2016 election:

    The DOJ: Russia meddled with the objective of undermining the public trust in the integrity of the election, sow discord and promote violent protests.

    The Republicans: Trump won, Clinton lost

    The Democrats: not my president!!! He’s illegitimate! Impeach 45! Resist! Violence is acceptable! Protest and riot!

    The Russians: mission accomplished!

  8. Dave Z, will you take a break from doing exactly what Russia wants you and all the other Never Trumpers to do, and tell me what is incoherent about “our relationship is the worst it’s ever been?”

    1. Anne- maybe it’s time you take a break from Fox News… although they also said the President was wrong and weak. Newt Gingrich also said he was terrible!

      Are they all Never-Trumpers and RINOs too?

      Time to get woke!

      1. all of the classic war hawks felt compelled to recoil in horror, it’s in their training and job description. trump is unconventional, kind of like the flying nun, hovering above us all, above it all, reaching down to touch, to heal, to fix, to improve.

    2. Oh, let’s ask Gary Powers, or the Berlin Airlift, or the Cuban Missile Crisis (just a few examples). Trump has no awareness other than his well-honed self-awareness. Talks before he thinks (and that’s giving him credit for thinking at all). Unfortunately, most of the Republicans who couldn’t even acknowledge him by name as a candidate even in the late stages before nomination, have had a Trump epiphany and blindly follow him. Making excuses for him does nothing but hurt the Republican brand in the long term in a society that is increasingly different than Trump’s opportunistic approach. Make hay while the sun shines.

  9. 2020 election prediction: a number of west river ballots will be thrown out when voters write in foster friess for president.

  10. Strategic Negotiating 101: If you doubt the veracity of the person on the other side, take good notes, take him at his word on all counts, and when you discover he has lied, you present him and demand an explanation. The concessions you get from a liar are the best.

    The entire time I watched the press conference I kept saying over and over- genius. Trump will own Putin before this is over. Liars are the easiest to own.

    The reaction of too many of the politicians is predictable: They never call each other on the carpet for lying to their face. Both sides know the rules are such one can change their mind without consequences. Thus, they don’t understand the negotiating style because they never deploy it. Not kosher in their world.

    1. How will Trump own Putin? Good lord, people are bending over backward to try to justify this mess.

  11. Dave Z,

    People like Trump love negotiating with those who think they are the smartest person in the room. Easy to devour and their ego doesn’t allow them to acknowledge they have been eaten.

    1. Perhaps the early Trump. His business dealings over the past 25 years or so didn’t go all that well (bankruptcies can attest to that). His greatest strength over this recent period was to pull off a branding strategy built on the force of his out-sized personality and a timely reality TV gig that was nothing other than being in the right place at the right time.

      Time will tell, but sadly, I don’t think he’s playing the long game.

  12. Dave Z,

    The current older and more experienced Trump is significantly wiser and more talented than the early Trump. Let’s be factual and in context:

    1) His net worth grew exponentially over the last 25 years. People who minimize what he accomplished are just jealous as they know they couldn’t/didn’t do it.
    2) The bankruptcies were financed with junk high yield debt and only his very first bankruptcy involved debt he personally guaranteed (more than 25 years ago). All parties knew the risks. Only the financially unsophisticated reference them as if they are something definitive.
    3) The guy playing the long game doesn’t worry about what people say today (ala the hyperbolic nonsense commentary the day ofter) and focus on the end result.

    1. Sorry, but I can’t agree. I wouldn’t say that all of the commentary is nonsense when it comes to many that have been defending the US intelligence community.

      What kind of a trap can he be setting for Putin when he clearly goes out of his way to insult and alienate our trusted allies?

      Time will tell if he’s really a stable genius.

    2. “2) The bankruptcies were financed with junk high yield debt and only his very first bankruptcy involved debt he personally guaranteed (more than 25 years ago). All parties knew the risks. Only the financially unsophisticated reference them as if they are something definitive.”

      Well, they are pretty clear evidence of his struggles to run a solvent company. You are deflecting here. Financiers invest at their peril. That doesn’t mean multiple declarations of bankruptcy aren’t evidence that the guy isn’t as adroit a businessman as he portrays. Unless you think the point of a business is to line the pockets of the CEO and not the shareholders of the company.

  13. Russia is Trump’s friend. Thus, Rounds should not be supporting Trump. Isn’t it great how all of our reps stop just short of talking about kind of action they could take?

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