WASHINGTON – On the heels of the president’s disastrous trip to Europe, U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), a member of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, criticized remarks made by President Donald Trump during a joint press conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin, where the president refused to say he believed the U.S. intelligence community over the Russian government regarding Russia’s interference in the 2016 elections.

In a floor speech today, Murphy criticized Trump for his unwillingness to condemn President Putin, while undermining his own U.S. intelligence agencies, following Friday’s indictment of 12 Russian government officials who attacked our elections.

“In my lifetime, no American president has ever had a more disastrous overseas trip than the one that was just concluded by President Trump. Five days of disaster after disaster, insult after insult, capitulation after capitulation, and now today Donald Trump has made America weaker in the world than at any time in recent memory,” Murphy said.

“When asked whether the president of the United States believed his own government or Russia, our president said he believed Russia,” Murphy continued. “That is America in the world today and I couldn't be sadder about it.”

The full text of Murphy’s speech is available below:

Thank you, Madam President.

Madam President, in my lifetime, no American president has ever had a more disastrous overseas trip than the one that was just concluded by President Trump. Five days of disaster after disaster, insult after insult, capitulation after capitulation, and now today Donald Trump has made America weaker in the world than at any time in recent memory.

Let's start with what just happened today that has the whole world reeling. To the shock and horror of the American public, President Trump stood on stage with Vladimir Putin and told the world that he believes Putin when Putin insists that Russia did not try to interfere in the American elections in Trump's favor in 2016. Despite what President Trump wants to us believe these days, there are some truths left in the word. Not everything -- world. Not everything is political spin. Not everything in the world today is up for debate. Russia did attack our elections in 2016. They plan on attacking our elections in 2018. In 2016 they did so with the explicit purpose of trying to elect Donald Trump.

All 100 senators agree on this. Every U.S. Intelligence agency agrees on this. Every law enforcement agency in the country agrees on this. Everyone working for Donald Trump in his national security cabinet agrees on this. And now we actually have the specific names of the specific Russian individuals who carried out these attacks. They've been indicted by Donald Trump's department of justice. There is simply no question, no debate over whether the Russian government engaged in a massive, willful, illegal campaign to push the 2016 election to Donald Trump. It is a fact. Now, President Trump no doubt doesn't like this fact. First because there is an investigation that is pending right now over the outstanding question of whether he knew that it was happening and whether he and his campaign team coordinated with the Russians to make that happen. There's increasing evidence this might be the case but we'll have to wait for the Mueller report to know. Second, because without the Russians' help, it's possible that Donald Trump might not be president. We don't know this but the slim margins with which the president prevailed in certain states leaves room to surmise that without Russia's illegal help, maybe Donald Trump might not have been elected president. But regardless, regardless of whether Trump coordinated with the Russians, regardless of whether their support ultimately tipped the balance, it frankly doesn't explain what just happened in Helsinki. When asked if Trump agrees with his staff, every member of the Senate, every law enforcement intelligence agency in his government or Russia, he chose Russia. Let me say that again. When asked whether the president of the United States believed his own government or Russia, our president said he believed Russia. He took sides against American national security interests, and we are left with a question of why. We raise that question because frankly, the expectations for this summit, this meeting between the American president and the Russian leader were very low. All President Trump had to do at that press conference today was offer some mild push back, an acknowledgment of Russia's interference in the election, to stand up in mild terms, offer America's support for the sovereignty of Ukraine. He didn't do anything of that so we're left with this question of why.

 

Now, I don't know what Mueller knows. I don't know what Vladimir Putin knows but Americans should be freaked out today that there is some explanation that we don't know for why our president is so friendly to Russian national security interests and so hostile to our own. Now, of course, today my colleagues, this was just icing on the cake. We all have forgotten what happened on the first four days this trip. Shortly before the meeting with Putin, Trump announced to the world that after several days of meetings and consultations with our European partners he could definitively say that Europe was an enemy of the United States called the European Union a foe. That conclusion was bracketed by his comments upon his arrival in Europe when he announced that his meeting with Putin was going to be a whole lot easier than his meetings were going to be with Europe. Let's be clear about two things here. First, Europe is our most important friend and ally, and it's been that way for a really long time and nothing's changed. Over the last 70 years when we need help in the world, you know where the first place in the world we turn to is? Europe. It shares our democratic values. They're our most important trading partner. The post-World War II order which is ushered in an era of relative global stability never before seen in the world is reliant on the continued alliance of the United States and Europe. Now, we have always had our grievances. We may want them to spend a little more money on defense. They may want us to shoulder a little bit of the burden with respect for the world's refugee crisis and not leave it all for them. But the alliance is just as important as it ever has been. Europe is just as important a partner as it has been. But here's the other thing to make clear. Donald Trump's intent is to smash NATO, is to smash the European Union, and to break the United States and Europe apart from each other. Now, his advisors and his cabinet members, they may go on TV or show up to hearings on Capitol Hill, and they might say all the right things about the strength of the transatlantic alliance and about America's rock solid commitment to NATO. I've heard them say that, I saw John Bolton say it on TV this weekend. I watched Secretary Pompeo come to the foreign relations committee and testify as such before congress. But the people that work for President Trump don't set U.S. Policy. The president does. And the president has made it clear over and over that NATO is temporarily functionally irrelevant. That sounds like a radical thing to say.

Let's admit that it is true for the time being. Trump has made it crystal clear that if Russia ever perpetuated a Ukraine-style attack on a NATO country, one that was in plain sight for everybody to see but that was officially denied by the Kremlin, does that sound familiar? That's what happened in Ukraine. Clear Russian invasion but officially denied by the Kremlin, does this sound familiar? 2016 attacks on American elections, there for everyone to see, denied by the Kremlin. Trump has made it clear that if Russia ever perpetuated an attack like that against a NATO country, Trump would believe Russia and not his own eyes, not his own government. He has telegraphed to Russia that if you simply deny the invasion or the attack, we will believe you, not our own government, not our own intelligence and security agencies. That's what he told us today. And that's what would likely happen if Europe was attacked. So the Europeans know this. Why we are so much weaker today is because that message to the Europeans comes with a price. If the Europeans don't feel that we are going to get their back, having watched the president mock and insult them over the course of the last four days, it is now in doubt as to whether they would come to our defense if we asked as we did after the attacks on September 11. Now, none of our European partners will say that. They are going to try to save face, they are going to try to be the bigger party to this contest and say that the strength of the alliance is as strong as it ever has been, but it is not and there are consequences, potentially serious ones for the United States. And as bad a shape as our president left NATO, the E.U. Is in no better condition today. It is in tatters in large part because of a president who continues to cheerlead those who want to break apart the E.U. Now, there are people who understand the genius of the European Union that are working hard to keep it together. And I'm going to cheerlead them.

But President Trump spent his time in Britain telling anybody that would listen, including the press, that unless the British government carried out a clean, painful break from the E.U., there would be consequences from the United States. That's madness. Our policy should be the opposite, that if Britain and the E.U. want to reconcile, America will be there to assist. Let's bring it back to Vladimir Putin again because his top priority, his number one goal is the dissolution of the European Union, which is his main rival. The breakup of NATO is up there as well. His chief ally in the deconstruction of the E.U. and NATO today is the president of the United States. America is so much weaker today than we were just five days ago, and that's saying a lot. Our nation and the world has never seen a more cataclysmic foreign trip than the one we just witnessed. This country can survive a lot. We're resilient. But President Trump is making this country a laughingstock. We used to be a pillar of strength, an example to be looked up to. Now we are the butt of jokes. We are seen as weak, a total pushover. All you need to do, if you were a despot or autocrat or enemy of America is to get in the room with the United States president and he will give you anything you want with no price to pay. That is America in the world today and I couldn't be sadder about it.