President Trump reportedly ignored advice from his national security advisers, who pushed him to confront Vladimir Putin during a phone call that took place Tuesday after the Russian president’s election victory.
Trump completely disregarded instructions from aides to condemn the recent poisoning of a former Russian spy in the UK and even shunned an all-caps warning that said “DO NOT CONGRATULATE” Putin, according to the Washington Post.
Instead, Trump told reporters that he had offered his well wishes on Putin’s new six-year term and added that the two world leaders will “probably be meeting in the not-too-distant future.”
When asked why the president did not bring up the recent election — which is considered by international monitors to have been plagued by corruption — White House spokesperson Sarah Huckabee Sanders said, “We don’t get to dictate how other countries operate.”
Trump received criticism from some fellow Republicans for his congratulatory call — including some scathing words from Arizona Sen. John McCain.
“An American president does not lead the Free World by congratulating dictators on winning sham elections,” McCain said in a statement.
“And by doing so with Vladimir Putin, President Trump insulted every Russian citizen who was denied the right to vote in a free and fair election to determine their country’s future, including the countless Russian patriots who have risked so much to protest and resist Putin’s regime.”