intelligence community under the bus like that. reporter: and before the president left helsinki, the republican chairman of the senate foreign relations committee unloaded on him the president s comments made us look as a nation more like a pushover. reporter: the top democrat went so far to suggest that putin must have something on trump. the americans are scratching their heads and saying, if that is not the explanation that putin has something on him, what is it? what the heck could it be? reporter: weighing in from arizona, senator john mccain called the president s press conference a tragic mistake. and quote, one of the most disgraceful performances by an american president in memory. no prior president has ever abased himself more abjectly before a tyrant. and then the reaction on the president s favorite cable news channel. that s what made his performance disgusting, i m sorry that s the only way i feel. not a right or left thing. it s just wrong. reporter:
worth despits walked away today with a win. jeff flake said this. i thought it was shameful. i never thought i d see an american president throw the intelligence community under the bus like that and agree with a dictator authoritarian like he did. so it is not a good day for the country. no republican was more forceful than senator john mccain who issued a written statement saying today s press conference was one of the most disgraceful performances by an american president in memory. the damage inflicted by president trump is difficult to calculate. but it is clear that the summit was a tragic mistake. no prior president has ever abased himself more abjectly before a tyrant. joining us now presidential
i thought it was shameful. i never thought i d see an american president throw the intelligence community under the bus like that and agree with a dictator authoritarian like he did. so it is not a good day for the country. no republican was more forceful than senator john mccain who issued a written statement saying today s press conference was one of the most disgraceful performances by an american president in memory. the damage inflicted by president trump is difficult to calculate. but it is clear that the summit was a tragic mistake. no prior president has ever abased himself more abjectly before a tyrant. joining us now presidential historian and author of the soul of america, the battle for our better angels and richard stengle is with us. he once had the opportunity to interview vladimir putin. he is now an msnbc political analyst.
and britain today s press conference mark as recent low point in the history of the american presidency. senator mccain went on to say that the president was attended in helsinki by a team of competent advisors, makes his blunders and capitulations inexplicable. no president has ever placed himself more abjectly before a die rant. speaking to america for the world our president failed to defense all that makes us who we are, a republic of free people dedicated to the cause of liberty at home and abroad. american presidents must be the champions of that cause if it is to succeed. americans are waiting and hoping for president trump to embrace that sacred responsibility. one can only hope they are not waiting totally in vain. those are the words of senator john mccain. moments agot senator marco rubio added these comments. all i can speculate is that
czechoslovakia. here you have vladimir putin on july 16, 2018, who annexed crimea. that now is complete. and this is the capitulation of trump. it is the appeasement to vladimir putin. this is the day that vladimir putin and donald trump stood on a stage and the president of the united states agreed and sided with our enemy over the united states, over the u.s. intelligence assessment of that that vladimir putin interfered in the election, which he clearly did. and it is astonishing, heartbreaking, and it rentspress a pivotal turn in our history. from john mccain, no prior president has debased himself more abjectly before tie rants. rick, where are the republicans? are we going to just see tweets and hear rumblings and shrugging of shoulders of what can we do? probably. we have seen some weitz from marco rubio and others. some are varying degrees of