It's "appalling" that President Donald Trump would invite Russian President Vladimir Putin to the next G-7 meeting, to be held in the United States in 2020, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Monday.
"As the United States takes on the responsibility of organizing and hosting the next G-7 summit, it is appalling that President Trump appears hell-bent on inviting Vladimir Putin back as Russia continues to forcibly occupy Crimea, interferes in our elections, and initiates a new arms race," the New York Democrat said in a statement, reports The Hill.
"Allowing Russia back into the G-7 would only show President Trump’s weakness in the face of Putin and his oligarchs and make the United States less secure," he added.
Trump said he would "certainly" invite Putin the next G-7 meeting, but said it would be a "tough thing" for the Russian leader to decide to come to the meeting.
The then-G-8 threw Russia out of the group in 2014 after it annexed Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula.
Trump has called for allowing Russia to come back to the group's summits, including last year when he said Russia should be at the negotiating table.
Monday, Trump commented that Russia should be included because it would be "better to have Russia inside the tent than outside the tent."
Trump would be able to invite non-member heads of state to the summit since the United States would be the host for the event. However, Donald Tusk, who heads of the European Council, said Saturday that G-7 nations would not allow Russia back in.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.