Because it's not quite the same; JFK et. al. weren't dumb enough to trust the Russians during those contacts. This administration, though…
https://www.nbcnews.com/world/russia/russia-ukraine-war-trum...
> President Donald Trump’s special envoy broke with long-standing protocol by not employing his own interpreter during three high-level meetings with Russia’s Vladimir Putin, opting instead to rely on translators from the Kremlin, a U.S. official and two Western officials with knowledge of the talks told NBC News.
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/427505-trump-put...
> President Trump reportedly met late last year with Russian President Vladimir Putin without a translator or aide from his administration present.
This seems like the same class of complaining about something ridiculous. If Putin wants to lie to you about something, do you expect him to speak the truth in Russian and then have his translator tell you something else? What advantage would that have compared with lying to you in Russian and having it translated accurately?
>Trump ... Putin without a translator
House of Cards used this same setup just to highlight how untrustworthy the president was acting.