Trump in a hurry to confront Putin after Mueller's indictment

All that Donald Trump had hoped to get out of his summit with Vladimir Putin, Robert Mueller changed the game.

The American president's objectives for the meeting had always been unclear. But now Trump is under pressure – including from several congressional members of his own party – to finally confront Putin once and for all by trying to sabotage the elections that put Trump in the White House.

Democrats called for scrapping the summit in protest. This is not the case, said the White House. And there is no indication that Trump will demand that Putin return the 12 Russian intelligence agents indicted by the Special Advocate – and they will probably never be tried.

But Monday's meeting in Helsinki has become a crucial test of Trump's strength and will to uphold electoral integrity – something that he has not done up to here. .

"It will be a little harder for him to simply go through the motions," said Daniel Fried, who was deputy secretary of state for Europe. under President George W. Bush. "The point is to send a very clear message to Putin: stay away from our elections."

"Plot Conspiracy"

Senator John McCain, an Arizona Republican, said that the indictments confirmed a "vast conspiracy". the Kremlin to sow discord among US voters, to attack the 2016 elections and undermine faith in democracy. "President Trump must be ready to confront Putin with a strong position and demonstrate that there will be a serious price to pay for his ongoing aggression towards the United States and the democracies of the United States. whole world, "said McCain, the Republican presidential candidate in 2008, in a statement." If President Trump is not ready to hold Putin accountable, the Helsinki summit should not move forward.

Trump focused his anger not on Putin but on his predecessor, former President Barack Obama, in a series of tweets on Saturday morning.The Turnberry Golf Club in Scotland

"The Stories That you heard about the 12 Russians took place during the Obama administration, not the Trump administration, "writes Trump ." Why did not they do anything about it, especially when it was reported that President Obama was briefed by the FBI in September before the island ctions? "

DNC Server

In a tweet, Trump asked why the FBI did not take over the server of the Democratic National Committee that was hacked by the Russians, and seemed to insinuate this unfounded and unexplained conspiracy involving the "Deep State". Former FBI director James Comey said last year that the Democrats had chosen to entrust the server to a third party who shared his analysis with the FBI, rather than entrusting it directly to the government [19659015]. Trump downplayed the idea of ​​challenging the Russian president over election interference at a press conference on Friday before criminal charges were announced, although Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein warned Trump over early in the week that charges were coming

"I will absolutely ask the question" to Putin, Trump said at a conference Friday with British Prime Minister Theresa May Checkers, his field. But he suggested that there was little reason for the exercise ..

Perry Mason Moment

"I do not think you'll get at all" Gee, I've got it Actually, I did, you've got me, "Trump told me, referring to a television drama of the 1950s and 1960s that often featured a dramatic last-minute confession minute he added, "There will be no Perry Mason here, I do not think so, but you never know what's going on, just"

Trump has already shown little appetite for Advancing the issue, telling reporters after meeting Putin in Vietnam last November that he had finished discussing and that he thought that the denials of the Russian leader were sincere.

did not argue. He said he did not interfere, I asked him again, you can only ask for it very often, "Trump told reporters on board. Air Force One after a meeting. "And I believe, I really believe, that when he tells me that, he wants it."

"Not a Question"

Lawmakers of his own party said Friday that it was no longer enough.

Republican Senator Jeff Flake of Arizona, a frequent critic of the president, said that Trump had to do more than ask. Mr President, as the indictments of today reaffirm, electoral interference is not a question for Putin, but a statement to be made to President Vladimir Putin. Vladimir Putin: You have interfered in our elections, "said Flake on Twitter.Royce, a California Republican, said in a statement Friday that Trump" should use today's indictments to challenge "Putin to the meeting.

A chorus of Democrats including New York senatorial minority leader Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi Trump must cancel his meeting with Vladimir Putin until Russia can take demonstrable and transparent measures to prove that they will not intervene in the next elections, "Schumer said in a statement. "Happy to pass Vladimir Putin in the aftermath of these indictments would be an insult to our democracy."

No Russian criticism