This week in our Morning Wire email, I made the statement that knowing the right way to deal with President Trump is tricky for Congressional Republicans in an election year.
Dino Rossi, Cathy McMorris Rodgers and Jaime Herrera Beutler each face difficult elections where Trump is a primary issue. Each are addressing Trump’s performance in different ways: CMR more clearly; JHB more silently.
Jaime Herrera Beutler’s office got back to us to ask that we correct the assertion that she is being quiet on this topic.
Angeline Riesterer, JHB’s Communications Director, directed me to a post at The Columbian where a reporter was able to get a statement. It doesn’t appear that this statement was released more broadly than The Columbian, and apparently came as a result of the reporter posing questions to the office.
From Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler:
“Vladimir Putin is a murderous dictator, and he’s not to be trusted. I do trust our country’s intelligence agencies and their reports that Russia meddled in our elections, and was glad to see the president clarify that he believes it too. I support ongoing efforts to determine which foreign actors interfered in U.S. elections and to what extent, and we should absolutely take every action necessary to hold them accountable.”
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In the Morning Wire, I linked to a handful of stories on this matter. One came from Q13, the Seattle area Fox station that says they were unable to get a statement from JHB’s office.
From the story:
Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, the fourth ranking Republican in the House leadership, said, “Russia is not a friend to the United States or our allies. There’s no question that they meddled in our election, and all evidence points to Putin’s direct involvement. In order to put America first, the President must hold Russia accountable for their adversarial actions and their continued efforts to undermine our democratic institutions.
“I supported sanctions last year to hold Putin and his regime accountable and will continue to advocate in Congress for strong American leadership. We must all stand in opposition to Russia’s efforts to undermine our elections and our values,” she wrote on her Facebook page.
The other two Republicans on the delegation didn’t appear to issue a statement after the Trump-Putin news conference; they were Reps. Jamie Herrera Beutler and Dan Newhouse.
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