Trump will be abandoning presidential duties if he doesn't bring up election hacking with Putin, say Democrats

'The upcoming elections cannot be a playground for President Putin,' Senate Democrats say

Senate Democratic Leader Charles Schumer and No 2 Senate Democrat Richard Durbin both signed the letter to President Trump (Getty Images)

Donald Trump would be committing a “severe dereliction” of his presidential duties if he fails to confront Russian President Vladimir Putin about Moscow's efforts to interfere in the 2016 US election, Senate Democrats have said.

Mr Trump is set to meet with Mr Putin this week on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Germany. In a letter sent to the US President a day ahead of their meeting, five top senators wrote that it's crucial for Mr Trump set the agenda and make clear to Mr Putin that Russia's meddling in American democracy will not be tolerated.

“Put more simply, President Putin directed an attack on the most central tenet of our democracy – our election,” the senators said. “Not raising this matter with President Putin would be a severe dereliction of the duty of the office to which you were elected.”

The letter was signed by Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York; Dick Durbin of Illinois, the second-highest ranking Democrat in the Senate; and the top Democrats on the Intelligence, Armed Services, and Foreign Relations committees.

National security officials have warned that unless the US takes strong steps to prevent or deter election meddling, foreign nations – especially Russia – won't stop.

“No candidate, Democrat, Republican or independent, wants to have President Putin and his cronies manipulating his or her electorate. And, it’s critical that both the Executive and Legislative branches of our government use every tool at our disposal to ensure that Putin does not believe he has a freehand to implement his manipulative program of election interference ever again,” the senators wrote. “The upcoming elections cannot be a playground for President Putin.”

Congress is currently considering legislation that would toughen sanctions on Russia. The Senate's version would also establish a new congressional review process that could allow Congress to block Mr Trump from trying to ease sanctions on Moscow.

Even though Mr Trump’s aides have been unable to offer many details about what the two leaders may talk about, the Kremlin has said that Mr Putin will press Mr Trump to lift sanctions imposed on Russia for its annexation of Crimea, and to relinquish Russian diplomatic compounds on Long Island and in Maryland that the US seized last year.

While in Poland, Mr Trump called for Russia “to cease its destabilizing activities in Ukraine and elsewhere.”

But when asked about Russia’s efforts to influence the 2016 presidential race, Mr Trump said other countries could have also interfered in the election.

“Nobody really knows for sure,” Mr Trump said, contradicting his own intelligence services that have definitively said that Russia is the culprit.