Seven Republicans, Seven Democrats Tell Trump: Don't Let Putin Into the G20
A bipartisan group of 14 senators — from Mitch McConnell to Tim Kaine — is urging the president to rescind Vladimir Putin's invitation to December's summit in Miami, warning it would "legitimize" a government waging daily attacks on Ukrainian civilians.
Fourteen U.S. senators, evenly split between the two parties, sent President Trump a letter Thursday night urging him to rescind the invitation extended to Russian President Vladimir Putin for the Group of 20 summit set for Miami this December.
The effort was led by Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), the ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. They were joined by an equal number from each side of the aisle: Republicans Mitch McConnell, John Cornyn, Jerry Moran, Thom Tillis, John Curtis and Alan Armstrong, and Democrats Sheldon Whitehouse, Michael Bennet, Chris Coons, Richard Blumenthal, Tim Kaine and Ruben Gallego, according to the Kyiv Independent.
"Legitimizing and normalizing"
The senators' core argument centers on what a Putin appearance on U.S. soil would signal. "President Putin bears sole responsibility for launching Russia's full-scale war of aggression against Ukraine," the letter states, warning that allowing him at a G20 summit in the United States "raises serious concerns about legitimizing and normalizing a government that continues to attack Ukrainian civilian targets every day," per United24 Media.
"RAISES SERIOUS CONCERNS ABOUT LEGITIMIZING AND NORMALIZING" A GOVERNMENT AT WAR
The letter also notes a more technical wrinkle: Putin, Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov and other members of the delegation Moscow would likely send remain under active U.S. sanctions, raising questions about how — or whether — they could legally set foot in Miami for the December 14-15 summit, according to the Washington Sun.
The letter arrives as the Trump administration has pursued direct engagement with Moscow on ending the war, making the G20 invitation itself a point of contention among Russia hawks in both parties. Neither the White House nor the Kremlin had publicly responded to the letter as of Saturday.
What happens next is now a waiting game. The G20 host retains discretion over the guest list, and with nearly three months before the summit, the White House faces sustained pressure from Capitol Hill — on both sides — to make a call one way or the other before invitations are finalized.