Alaska Sens. Murkowski, Sullivan critical of Trump’s Russia statements at Helsinki summit

WASHINGTON — Alaska Republican Sens. Dan Sullivan and Lisa Murkowski strongly rejected President Donald Trump's dismissal Monday of American intelligence indicating Russian interference in the U.S. presidential election.

The senators were reacting to Trump's statements and political posture at a press conference in Helsinki, Finland after a summit between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"I disagree with the President's remarks. Specifically, do I believe the professional and patriotic men and women of our intelligence community, including the Director of National Intelligence, or a mafia regime leader like Putin? It's not even a close call," Sullivan said.

"As our intelligence agencies have informed us, Russia tried to interfere in our elections and the elections of our allies across the globe. We need to take measures to prevent this from happening again and to continue to hold Russia accountable," Sullivan said in a statement.

"I'm stunned that President Trump failed to take this opportunity to confront President Putin about the interference in our elections," Murkowski said in a written statement. "President Trump ultimately validated Putin at the expense of American intelligence by giving credence to Putin's claim to have not interfered in our elections."

Murkowski noted that "we were not privileged" to know what was said in the private meeting between Trump and Putin. The pair met in private for two hours, joined only by translators, no aides or record-keepers. But, she said, Trump missed the chance to publicly back "the conclusions of American intelligence officials and demand Russia not interfere in any future elections."

About four hours after the press conference, Trump tweeted a bit of damage control, saying, "'I have GREAT confidence in MY intelligence people.' However, I also recognize that in order to build a brighter future, we cannot exclusively focus on the past – as the world's two largest nuclear powers, we must get along!"

"Collusion aside and regardless of what happened before, President Trump should have demanded it never happen again," Murkowski said. "Instead, what I saw today was not 'America First,' it was simply a sad diminishment of our great nation," she said.

Sullivan's criticism came a day after he appeared on Sunday talk show Meet the Press, where he said he felt the president's meeting with U.S. North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) allies was a success overall, and that the Russia meeting should proceed.

[With Putin beside him, Trump questions U.S. intelligence on Russian election tampering]

On Sunday, Sullivan argued that if the U.S.-Russia relationship is to improve, the onus should be on Russia.

"Russia shouldn't invade its neighbors and should move out of countries it's invaded. Russia should stop aligning itself with Iran, the world's largest state sponsor of terrorism. Russia should stop backing regimes like Bashar al-Assad, who butchers his own people. And certainly, Russia should stop meddling in the elections of democracies like the United States and our allies," Sullivan told host Chuck Todd.

Before the meeting Monday, Trump tweeted that blame for a failing U.S.-Russia relationship lies with the United States. "Our relationship with Russia has NEVER been worse thanks to many years of U.S. foolishness and stupidity and now, the Rigged Witch Hunt!" he wrote.

The senators' responses came alongside widespread alarm from Republican leaders about Trump's press conference.

Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain, chair of the Armed Services Committee, said the press conference was "one of the most disgraceful performances by an American president in memory. The damage inflicted by President Trump's naiveté, egotism, false equivalence, and sympathy for autocrats is difficult to calculate. But it is clear that the summit in Helsinki was a tragic mistake," he said.

House Speaker Paul Ryan R-Wisconsin said that there is "no question that Russia interfered in our election and continues attempts to undermine democracy here and around the world." Russia "remains hostile to our most basic values and ideals," Ryan said.