'Trump Unable To Hold Anyone Accountable," Coleman Says

Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-12) said President Donald Trump continues to be unable to hold people accountable for wrongdoing after Trump 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 Monday afternoon news conference in Helsinki. “But I will tell you that President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today.”

A reporter asked Trump during the conference if he holds Russia accountable for anything, and the president responded, “We’re all to blame.” Coleman shared that exchange on Twitter, along with her own response.

“Trump's ‘both sides’ statement exposes his continued inability to hold people accountable for wrongdoing,” Coleman said. “To suggest mutual blame when we just indicted their intelligence officers means he’s abandoned reality to parrot Putin’s talking points.”

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.

Photo by Chris McGrath/Getty Images