"We have never been in a worse relationship with Russia than we are as of a few days ago, and I think that's gotten substantially better," Trump said. Nicholas Burns, under-secretary of state for political affairs from 2005 to 2008, called Trump's Helsinki meeting "an absolute dereliction of duty". "For Pres Trump to show so much respect to Putin & not to indicate any degree of criticism, frankly, it was weakness." US Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said President Donald Trump is trying to "squirm" away from his comments about Russian interference in the 2016 election. Senator Rand Paul defended Trump, calling critics "mistaken" and saying that the US also has picked sides in other countries' elections.