Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) is asking President Donald Trump to confront Russian President Vladimir Putin over Russia's meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
Schumer and other top Senate Democrats sent a letter to Trump with the request on Thursday, Politico reports. The senators said that it would be a "severe dereliction of duty" if he refused to discuss the matter with Putin.
"It remains critical that you set the agenda from the start and make absolutely clear that Russian interference in our democracy will in no way be tolerated," the letter said.
Democratic Sens. Dick Durbin (Ill.), Ben Cardin (Md.), Mark Warner (Va.), and Jack Reed (R.I.) signed the letter with Schumer. Durbin is the Senate Minority Whip, while the other three senators are the ranking members of the Senate Foreign Relations, Intelligence, and Armed Services committees, respectively.
Trump is scheduled to meet with Putin for the first time in person on Friday as the two leaders are in Hamburg, Germany for the G-20 summit.
