Trump congratulates Putin, gets backtalk from Republicans

WASHINGTON -- Tuesday morning President Donald Trump called Russian President Vladimir Putin to congratulate him on his re-election, drawing criticism from members of his own party, including a leading senator who scorned the election as a "sham." Trump also said he and Putin might meet "in the not too distant future" to discuss the arms race and other matters.

What they didn't discuss Tuesday was noteworthy as well: Trump did not raise Russia's meddling in the U.S. elections or its suspected involvement in the recent poisoning of a former spy in England.

"An American president does not lead the free world by congratulating dictators on winning sham elections," said Sen. John McCain, who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee and has pressed the Trump administration to respond aggressively to Russia's interference in the U.S. presidential election.

Sen. Jeff Flake, a frequent Trump critic, called the president's call "odd." Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Trump "can call whomever he chooses" but noted calling Putin "wouldn't have been high on my list."

At the State Department, spokeswoman Heather Nauert said it was "no surprise" Putin was re-elected, commenting some people were paid to turn out to vote and opposition leaders were intimidated or jailed. She also cited a preliminary report by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe saying Russia's election took place in an overly controlled environment lacking an even playing field for all contenders.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders defended Trump's call, and noted President Barack Obama made a similar call at the time of Putin's last electoral victory.

The action and reaction fit a Trump White House pattern of declining to chide authoritarian regimes for undemocratic practices.

Trump himself has long been reluctant to publicly criticize Putin. He said during their hoped-for meeting the two men would likely discuss Ukraine, Syria and North Korea, among other things.

"I suspect that we'll probably be meeting in the not too distant future to discuss the arms race, to discuss the arms race, which is getting out of control, but we will never allow anybody to have anything even close to what we have," Trump said.

Russia has received global condemnation after Britain blamed Moscow for the recent nerve agent attack targeting Sergei Skripal and his daughter. Russia has denied the accusation.

Trump's call came at a period of heightened tensions between the two nations after the White House imposed sanctions on Russia for its interference in the 2016 U.S. election and other "malicious cyberattacks." Sanders insisted the administration has scolded Putin at the appropriate times.

"We've been very clear in the actions that we've taken that we're going to be tough on Russia, particularly when it comes to areas that we feel where they've stepped out of place."

The Kremlin said in a statement Trump and Putin spoke about a need to "coordinate efforts to limit the arms race" and for closer cooperation on strategic stability and counterterrorism.

"Special attention was given to considering the issue of a possible bilateral summit," the Kremlin statement said.

In addition, the two presidents expressed satisfaction with the apparent easing of tensions over North Korea's weapons program, according to the Kremlin.

No details were released about the timing or location of a possible meeting, which would be their third since Trump took office in January 2017. They met on the sidelines of an international summit in Germany last summer and again more informally at another gathering of world leaders in Vietnam in November.