The top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee said Sunday he’s concerned about the upcoming one-on-one meeting between President Donald Trump and Russia’s Vladimir Putin because Trump “kind of goes in and wings it.”
In an interview on NBC News’ “Meet The Press,” Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., said he’s not confident that Trump will make as a “top point of his agenda” Russia’s interference in the 2016 election.
“I’d feel a lot better if U.S. Ambassador [to Russia Jon] Huntsman, who I have a lot of confidence in, was actually sitting in on the meeting,” he said.
“I'm very concerned about a one-on-one meeting between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump,” Warner said. “We know that Trump doesn't do a lot of prep work for these meetings. He kind of goes in and wings it.”
Warner drew a comparison with Trump’s historic meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, saying Trump “ended up saying everything is okay with North Korea, and frankly we've found, since that time, that's not the case.”
“In Putin, you've got a trained KGB agent who does his homework,” Warner said. “My fear is that Putin could come in with maps of Ukraine or maps of Syria and try to cut some deal, and frankly, take advantage of this president.
‘So, I really would feel much better if there were other Americans in the room making sure that we make the point that the first and top point of this agenda should be no further Russian interference in our elections.”
Warner said he hoped this year’s elections are fair, but said the government has to make sure that’s the case.
“I would feel a lot better if there was a concerted, whole-of-government effort to make sure not only at the state and local registrar level, but on the companies that manipulate and own the voter files and maintain the voter files behind the scenes,” he said.
“I think we need to really step up our game,” he said.
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