Trump dismisses critics: Putin meeting ‘even better’ than NATO meeting

President Donald Trump is unbowed by bipartisan criticism of his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. In a Tuesday morning tweet, the president called Monday’s summit in Helsinki “even better” than his meeting with NATO allies last week in Brussels. Trump is facing severe bipartisan criticism for his refusal to challenge Putin over Russia’s election hacking and for doubting U.S. intelligence agency conclusions about Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign. Trump also said his NATO meeting was “great” but that he “had an even better meeting with Vladimir Putin of Russia. Sadly, it is not being reported that way—the Fake News is going Crazy!”

But even some of Trump’s usual allies on Fox News are critical. Fox & Friends host Brian Kilmeade said, “When Newt Gingrich, when Gen. Jack Keane, when Matt Schlapp say the president fell short and made our intelligence apparatus look bad, I think it’s time to pay attention.”

Some in Congress are talking about passing a resolution supporting U.S. intelligence agencies but no proposals have appeared. Rep. Will Hurd, R-Texas, told CNN that lawmakers started considering a resolution after Trump’s Helsinki news conference, but he added, “Is that going to change anything? Probably not.” Congressional resolutions do not carry the force of law.