- Abby Huntsman, the daughter of US Ambassador to Russia Jon Huntsman, was deeply critical of President Donald Trump over his performance at a press conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
- Despite the US intelligence community’s conclusion that Russia interfered in the US presidential election in 2016, Trump said he didn’t see “any reason” why Russia would interfere in the US electoral process.
- Some are calling on Huntsman to resign from his ambassador position in protest of Trump’s rhetoric.
Abby Huntsman, the daughter of US Ambassador to Russia Jon Huntsman, was deeply critical of President Donald Trump on Monday over his performance at a press conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Huntsman tweeted, “No negotiation is worth throwing your own people and country under the bus.”
This came after Trump was broadly accused of siding with Putin over the US intelligence community on the subject of Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential election.
During the press conference, Putin denied Russia interfered in the US presidential election and said it was “utter nonsense” to believe the Trump campaign colluded with the Kremlin in this regard.
But the US intelligence community concluded that Russia did, in fact, interfere in the election, and Trump's top advisers have continuously warned that Putin's government is planning future attacks.
Despite the US intelligence community's position on this, Trump on Monday said he didn't see "any reason" why Russia would interfere in the US electoral process.
Trump: "My people came to me, [Director of National Intelligence] Dan Coats came to me, some others, they said they think it's Russia. I have President Putin. He just said it's not Russia. I will say this, I don't see any reason why it would be." pic.twitter.com/p6kfkGw5pC
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) July 16, 2018
Subsequently, former CIA Director John Brennan said Trump's behavior during the press conference was "nothing short of treasonous."
Meanwhile, some are calling on Ambassador Huntsman to resign from his position in protest of Trump's rhetoric and demeanor toward Russia. Dan Pfeiffer, former senior adviser to President Barack Obama, on Monday tweeted, "If Huntsman has an ounce of integrity left, he should immediately resign."
Prior to Trump's meeting with Putin, the ambassador had said the purpose of the occasion was to hold Russia "accountable for what they did."
"The bigger picture is we need to hold the Russians accountable for what they did, their malign activity throughout Europe as well," Huntsman said on Sunday.