Republican Sen. John McCain on Friday joined several Democrats in calling for President Donald Trump to cancel Monday's summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin after 12 Moscow operatives were indicted for meddling in the 2016 election, but the White House said the meeting in Finland would go on as scheduled.
"President Trump must be willing to confront Putin from a position of strength and demonstrate that there will be a serious price to pay for his ongoing aggression towards the United States and democracies around the world," McCain, the Arizona Republican who is undergoing treatment for brain cancer, said in a statement.
"If President Trump is not prepared to hold Putin accountable, the summit in Helsinki should not move forward."
But CNN reported that White House officials said the Putin summit would proceed as scheduled.
Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein announced Friday that the 12 Russian military intelligence officers were charged with hacking into the accounts of the Democratic National Committee, Hillary Clinton's campaign and other party operatives during the 2016 presidential election.
They then released the stolen information through fake accounts — DC Leaks and Guccifer 2.0, among them — in the weeks before voters went to the polls that November.
The 29-page indictment did not allege that Trump campaign associates were involved or that any Americans were knowingly in contact with the Russians.
McCain called the indictments the "result of the hard work of America's law enforcement and intelligence officials who dedicate their lives to bringing to justice those who wish to do us harm.
"These revelations add to a body of evidence confirming an extensive plot by Vladimir Putin's government to attack the 2016 election, sow chaos and dissension among the American electorate, and undermine faith in our democracy."
Several Democrats took to Twitter to also demand that President Trump cancel the Putin summit in light of the indictments, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York:
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