LoBiondo, Congressional Candidates React To Trump's Comments

Retiring Rep. Frank LoBiondo (R-2) and the Democratic and Republican candidates challenging for his seat in November have all reacted to President Trump's controversial remarks, in which he sided with Vladimir Putin and denied the Russians were responsible for meddling in the 2016 election, despite that conclusion from U.S. intelligence agencies.

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

Both LoBiondo and Democratic candidate Jeff Van Drew disagreed with Trump’s comments, while Republican candidate Seth Grossman said he understood why Trump wanted to appear friendly to Russia at this point in time.

“I strongly disagree with the statement that Russia did not meddle in the 2016 election,” LoBiondo said via Twitter. “With all I have seen on House Intel Committee and the additional indictments of 12 Russian officers last week, it is clear what Russia's intentions are. President Trump missed the opportunity to hold Putin publicly accountable.”

“I'm extremely disappointed and appalled with the President's statements in Helsinki that rejected the unanimous conclusions of U.S. intelligence leaders and bipartisan findings of the United States Senate Intelligence Committee,” said Van Drew, the State Senator who represents the First Legislative District. “Russia has attempted to manipulate democratic elections throughout the world, and our President being duped into embracing Vladimir Putin after he waged a despicable violation of our sovereignty is mind boggling.”

“Putin is a murderer, a liar and a thug, but so are a lot of the other world leaders our president has to deal with at this time,” Grossman said. “Russia’s neighbors, including China, Turkey, Iran and North Korea are all dangerous, and I understand why the president wants to appear friendly to Russia at this time.”

Trump's comments on the election meddling and his willingness to publicly excuse Putin on a national stage drew widespread outrage, including from lawmakers in the Republican party. Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona — a longtime Trump critic — responded to the president's comments by calling them disgraceful.

“Today's press conference in Helsinki was one of the most disgraceful performances by an American president in memory,” McCain said Monday. “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.”

The White House was in damage-control mode Tuesday. Trump was scheduled to meet with members of Congress.

Intelligence director Dan Coats, who issued a strongly worded statement that Russia did interfere in the election, reaffirmed his commitment to “provide unvarnished and objective intelligence in support of our national security.”

“The role of the Intelligence Community is to provide the best information and fact-based assessments possible for the President and policymakers. We have been clear in our assessments of Russian meddling in the 2016 election and their ongoing, pervasive efforts to undermine our democracy, and we will continue to provide unvarnished and objective intelligence in support of our national security,” Coats said in the statement.

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