Washington DC - 25 July 2018

1. UPSOUND (English) Officials walk down hallway

Reporter: "Senator, what's your reaction to the delay of this Putin meeting?"

Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.): "I think it's great."

2. SOUNDBITE (English) Sen. Chris Coons, (D) Delaware:

Reporter: "Can you tell us anything about what Secretary of State Pompeo has revealed about the Trump Putin summit in Helsinki?"

Coons: "Very little. In, I think, an important and positive opening statement, Secretary Pompeo shared that a President Trump has issued a declaration that the United States, as a matter of policy, will not recognize the annexation of Crimea and will hold Russia accountable for withdrawing from eastern Ukraine and restoring and respecting the territorial integrity of Ukraine. That was a very positive statement. Senator Menendez of New Jersey pressed Secretary Pompeo very hard on exactly what was said in the Helsinki summit. Secretary Pompeo aggressively defended the right of the president to have private meetings and was really not very forthcoming about exactly what was said."

++SOUNDBITES SEPARATED BY BLACK FRAMES++

3. SOUNDBITE (English) Sen. Chris Coons, (D) Delaware:

Reporter: "Senator what do you think of the White House's decision to delay the upcoming meeting with Putin?"

Coons: "I don't think it was appropriate to invite President Putin to a meeting at the White House in the first place. Until it is clear that President Putin of Russia understands that his attack on our election is intolerable and that his continued actions to uphold and defend the murderous regime of Bashar al-Assad and his action in invading and occupying Crimea. Until President Putin understands and takes clear action that shows that he is withdrawing from or backing away from or changing those positions, I don't think there should be a meeting in the United States in particular in our nation's capital. Thank you all very very much."

4. Mid, Sen. Jeff Flake exits room

5. SOUNDBITE (English) Sen. Jeff Flake (R) Arizona:

Reporter: "..The fact that he is not commenting or giving many details about the one-on-one meeting Trump had."

Flake: "There's not much he's saying. We wish we had more of a read out. The Russians are characterizing certain things, talking about fabulous agreements and concessions or whatever else and we have no idea. That's the problem of having a private meeting like this."

++SOUNDBITES SEPARATED BY BLACK FRAMES++

6. SOUNDBITE (English) Sen. Jeff Flake (R) Arizona:

Flake: "Well, that's that's the problem with having a private meeting like this. Particularly when they seem to have been far better prepared. So I'm glad they put off the next meeting, I hope I don't I'm not opposed to president's meeting. That's fine. But private meetings like this just, it's not turning out well."

Reporter: "Sir, John Bolton says that we're not going to be having another Russian summit until after..."

Flake: "Hopefully that gives us more time to prepare and hopefully for more people to talk about how detrimental it is to have a private meeting like this allowing the Russians to characterize it when we aren't prepared to do so. And so I hope that if we've learned anything we learned not to do that again."

++EDIT ENDS IN A SOUNDBITE++

Arriving at a Senate hearing where US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo would comment on the happenings of US President Donald Trump's recent meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Senators seemed unsure about the idea of a second summit with the leader.

The Trump administration sought to fend off accusations the president is too soft on Russia on Wednesday, putting off a proposed second summit with Russian leader Vladimir Putin and declaring the U.S. will never recognize Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea.

Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) says inviting Putin to Washington was a bad idea in the first place.

"Until it is clear that President Putin of Russia understands that his attack on our election is intolerable," said Coons.

Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) was strongly against President Trump's private meeting with Putin in Helsinki, and was glad that this next one would be delayed.

"I'm not opposed to president's meeting. That's fine. But private meetings like this just, it's not turning out well," said Flake.

National security adviser John Bolton cited special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election as the reason for the delay, although many members of Congress had objected to the meeting and said Putin would not be welcome on Capitol Hill.

"The President believes that the next bilateral meeting with President Putin should take place after the Russia witch hunt is over, so we've agreed that it will be after the first of the year," Bolton said in a statement, using Trump's favored but highly controversial term for the Mueller probe.