KVUE: Texas politicians remain silent after President Trump's Russian interference comments

AUSTIN — What a difference a day makes.

President Donald Trump held a joint press conference Monday in Russia with Russian President Vladimir Putin after the two had a two-hour meeting.

During the press conference, a journalist asked Trump about Putin and Russian interference in the 2016 election saying, "Every U.S. intelligence agency has concluded that Russia did. Who do you believe?"

"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," Trump responded.

But Tuesday, back in Washington, D.C., Trump said he misspoke.

"In a key sentence in my remarks, I said the word 'would,' instead of 'wouldn't,'" he said.

"The sentence should have been, 'I don't see any reason why I wouldn't or why it wouldn't be Russia,'" he added.

But even with the correction, the president still added a qualifier.

"Russia's meddling in the 2016 election took place," he said. "Could be other people also."

Austin Congressman Lloyd Doggett told KVUE Tuesday that this wasn't just a slip of the tongue.

"This isn't a matter of the word choice he used," Doggett said.

"It's not what he said alone, but his whole approach of what he did not say in holding Putin accountable and demanding that these indicted criminals in Russia be presented for trial here," he added.

Doggett wants his republican colleagues from Texas and Austin to step up and say something publicly about the president's remarks. Representative Michael McCaul did release a statement Monday.

Senator John Cornyn addressed it on the floor Monday saying in part, "I trust our intelligence community. I trust their assessment that there was Russian meddling in the election, but I also trust the investigation so far, which has shown absolutely no collusion."

Other republican and democratic lawmakers have condemned the president's remarks. Senator and former presidential candidate John McCain called the comments "disgraceful" and referred to the meeting as a "tragic mistake."

United States Speaker of the House Paul Ryan said, "Putin does not share our interests. Vladimir Putin does not share our values."

Senate Majority Leader Senator Mitch McConnell said, "Election meddling better not happen again."

Texas lawmakers have largely remained silent. KVUE reached out to Senator Ted Cruz and Austin Congressman Roger Williams for a comment, but didn't hear back. Other Republican Congressmen representing Central Texas including Lamar Smith, Bill Flores, and John Carter, didn't release statements either.

Political expert and director of the Texas Politics Project Jim Henson said the reason why is mainly politics.

"In our last June poll, 88 percent of republicans gave the president a positive job approval. Other republican politicians are very weary of that in an election season. And so, I think the question of the moment is, 'Will the public shift?' How do other republican elected officials gauge that and how do they adjust their own behavior," Henson asked.

"As long as Donald Trump has the support of the republican base, you're going to continue to see, you know, in my view, very measured and very careful condemnation of some of these things from republican elected officials, and in ways that reflect the fact that republican officials know that Donald Trump will not hesitate to use the political influence he has right now and to use the bully pulpit of the presidency to criticize them directly and personally, particularly when they're up for re-election.

Henson expects national polling on the president's approval rating to be happening now in wake of the president's admitted mistake. The results are something many political insiders will be watching.