1. SOUNDBITE: (English) Rep. Eric Swalwell, (D) California:
"I think it was disgraceful that American flags were on the stage for this summit because an American president was not. The job of the American president to protect the American people first. That's the first job the American president and this president has chosen again to side with Russia, incapable of attributing the last attack against the Russians and incapable of showing the American people that we're going to do something to make sure that this doesn't happen again."
2. SOUNDBITE: (English) Rep. Eric Swalwell, (D) California:
"I think it's high time the American people vote on this issue and many others because the only way to really, I think, be a check on this president is to have a Congress that's willing to stand up to him. Again he's a wrecking ball. He went over to Europe. He insulted and threatened our NATO allies. He sought to disrupt a pending election in the United Kingdom and then sided with the Russians. Again, we are not helpless. We can stand up to him with the right Congress. I'll keep trying to change the minds of my colleagues but I think we may have to change 23 seats or more of this November."
"I think for the president to cast doubt is appropriate. (Reporter? Cast doubt on the US Intelligence community?) Cast doubt on the validity of any number of these things. You know that's fair. Having said that, Putin is an evil man who has killed many people in his own country."
"Well, I've said repeatedly that the calls for extradition are absurd. They're not going to happen. We don't extradite our spies when they get alleged or even caught doing things and vice versa. Having said that, I want to see the information on those indictments go forward. The fact that they'll never be brought to justice doesn't change the fact that we should know more about what we believe they did and how they did it. And that's where I stand is Let's flush this out and see if it's real. Let's remember that we're more than a year into an investigation that claims that ... there was collusion with the Russians without a shred of evidence there was. So, you know, doubting something until it's been vetted and verified is reasonable."
Key members of Congress are reacting to President Donald Trump's performance at a press conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Key GOP lawmakers at least initially refrained from directly attacking Trump's performance, and at least one echoed the president's criticism of the special counsel probe.
Rep. Darrell Issa of California he takes the charges filed by Mueller's team seriously, but added that it's appropriate for the president to "cast doubt."
Democrats strongly criticized the press conference. California House Democrat Eric Swalwell said, "I think it was disgraceful that American flags were on the stage for this summit because an American president was not."
Trump refused to publicly condemn Russian interference in the 2016 election or warn against future meddling during the joint press conference with Putin in Finland.
