• Republicans blasted President Donald Trump for his remarks at a press conference Monday alongside Russian President Vladimir Putin.
• Republicans said Trump's performance was "shameful," "an absolute disgrace," and "moronic."

---

Republicans blasted President Donald Trump for his performance during a press conference Monday with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, Finland.

The press conference, which followed an hours-long private meeting between Trump and Putin, featured the president casting doubt over the US intelligence assessment that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election. He also attacked his Democratic opponents and the FBI, and said he holds both countries accountable for their state of relations while asked about the election meddling.

"My people came to me, Dan Coats came to me, some others, they said they think it's Russia," Trump said, referring to the Director of National Intelligence. "I have President Putin. He just said it's not Russia. I will say this, I don't see any reason why it would be."

He cited Putin's "extremely strong and powerful" denials of such interference during their meeting. And he seemed to endorse a plan Putin proposed that would allow special counsel Robert Mueller's team to work with Russian investigators to question 12 indicted Russians.

Some Republicans responded to Trump's remarks within moments of the press conference ending.

Other Republicans called Trump's remarks "outrageous," "an absolute disgrace," and "moronic." A former chairman of the Republican National Committee even said Trump was acting like he was an "asset" next to his "handler."