Rep. Brooks: 'Hold Russia Accountable' For Manipulative Actions

INDIANAPOLIS, IN — President Donald Trump's controversial press conference Monday with Russian President Vladimir Putin prompted several Indiana legislative officials from each side of the political spectrum to speak out. As seen below, a number of state Republicans are voicing their belief that Russia aimed to manipulate and undermine U.S. intelligence, in addition to several state legislators calling for unity of Americans outside of parties.

Among the many statements made since Monday, U.S. Rep. Susan Brooks of Indiana's 5th Congressional District (pictured center), who provided the following statement:

“It is vital to guarantee the integrity of our nation’s elections in order to safeguard our democratic institutions. I believe Russia, under Vladimir Putin’s leadership, sought to sow confusion and undermine Americans’ faith in our government and electoral process with the further goal of tearing our country apart. I am confident our intelligence community, in large part led by fellow Hoosier Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, has provided and will continue to provide reliable and trustworthy assessments on the threats facing our nation, and believe their credible claims of Russia’s involvement in our 2016 presidential election. Russia’s repeated aggressions demonstrate they do not consider the United States worthy of respect. It is important we set the record straight and hold Russia accountable for their manipulative actions meddling in our elections.”

It is important we set the record straight & hold Russia accountable for their manipulative actions meddling in our elections. Read my complete statement below or on my website >> https://t.co/WlggMIHEgl pic.twitter.com/Z0fytObgMt
— Susan W. Brooks (@SusanWBrooks) July 17, 2018

Similar to in tone and ideals to Brooks' statement was U.S. Senator Todd Young's (R-Ind.), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee:

“Moscow invades and bullies its neighbors, disregards its treaty obligations, seeks to divide NATO, and props up the murderous Assad regime. To protect America’s national security interests, stand up for democratic values, and deter additional aggression by Putin, we must deal with Moscow from a position of strength and unity. I have no reason to doubt the clear conclusions of the intelligence community when it comes to Moscow’s attempts to undermine our democracy. When it comes to defending our democratic institutions against foreign subversion and meddling, we are Americans—not Republicans or Democrats.”

U.S. Rep. Todd Rokita of Indiana's 4th Congressional District tweeted the following thread on his Twitter account, which was a bit different from Brooks' and Young's, as he voiced his opinion on President Trump's peace efforts with Russia:

"I believe that both @POTUS and the Director of National Intelligence, Dan Coats, have the safety and prosperity of Americans as their number one priority. The President should continue with his peace through strength strategy with Russia. Moving forward we need to have a serious conversation about Russia’s role in the world and the actions it has taken. There is no evidence of a conspiracy between Trump’s campaign and the Russian government and it’s time to focus on the facts. To do so I have introduced the Mueller Resolution which calls for the special counsel to provide evidence of collusion or to end the investigation."

André D. Carson, U.S. Rep. of the 7th District of Indiana also released a statement, in addition to also tweeting a thread on his Twitter account:

"Today’s summit between President Trump & Putin was shocking. @realDonaldTrump refused to condemn Russian interference, instead blaming American victims. This isn’t just rhetoric. Its abandoning our
interests. As Putin reminded us, he is a former KGB officer. He won’t admit to an attack on our democracy just because the President asks.We must follow the evidence. We can't let the President or politics disrupt
ongoing investigations. The evidence is indisputable—the Russians interfered. And, now they admit they wanted Trump to win. @realdonaldtrump was elected to defend our democracy. Instead he believes Putin’s denial over abundant evidence presented by non-partisan American intelligence analysts.
This not how a President acts. He is abandoning American interests to protect Russia. It's time for Congressional Republicans to stand on the side of evidence."

'Never before have we seen a president so dramatically set aside a vital American interest to appease the expectations of a foreign adversary.' My full statement on the #HelsinkiSummit here-> https://t.co/aZ2dpe04pY
— André Carson (@RepAndreCarson) July 16, 2018

On the other side of the political spectrum in Indiana, U.S. Senator Joe Donnelly released a statement, calling the meeting between President Trump and President Putin a "setback."

"When given the chance to stand up for our country and its security interests, President Trump instead emboldened President Putin and disregarded the consensus conclusion of the hard-working and patriotic Americans in the intelligence community, including Director of National Intelligence and fellow Hoosier Dan Coats. This meeting was a setback for American national security. We must not tolerate efforts by Russia or other actors that disrupt our democracy or undermine our interests around the globe."

Read more here: White House Doing Damage Control After Trump Backs Putin

The White House is in damage-control mode Tuesday after Trump received bipartisan backlash after he said he trusts Putin's assertion that the Kremlin didn't meddle in the election. Senior administration officials want Trump to say unequivocally that he trusts U.S. intelligence officials and there won't be any U.S. effort to cooperate with Russia in the investigation, according to news reports.

"I have great confidence in my intelligence people," Trump said during the news conference. "But I will tell you that President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today."

During the news conference, Trump also welcomed an offer by Putin for Russian intelligence officials to assist the United States in special counsel Robert Mueller's indictment of 12 Russian military officials in the election tampering investigation.

"He offered to have the people working on the case come and work with their investigations with respect to the 12 people," Trump said. "I think that's an incredible offer."

Patch editor Beth Dalbey contributed to this report.

(Photo by Gabriella Demczuk/Getty Images)