Senate Dems call for probe into why Trump has not issued Russia sanctions

5/18/18

A trio of key Democratic senators is calling on agency watchdogs to investigate why the Trump administration has not fully implemented mandated sanctions on Russia. The lawmakers sent a letter Friday asking the inspectors general of the State Department, Treasury Department and the intelligence community to examine the administration's failure to impose the financial penalties on Russia. The penalties, they say, should fall under the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA), a bipartisan piece of legislation that passed Congress last year with overwhelming support. “In light of these apparent violations and the lack of corresponding sanctions, we are concerned about whether the sanctions implementation process within the administration is fulfilling CAATSA’s mandate and intent,” the senators wrote Friday. “Likewise, it seems clear that several weeks ago the administration had identified specific Russian entities that had played a role in supplying or otherwise supporting the government of Syria’s chemical weapons program, had prepared a list of such entities for sanctions designation, and Ambassador Nikki Haley publicly announced their imminent designation -- but then did not designate them, reportedly at the direction of the President," it stated.

The letter was signed by Sens. Bob Menendez (N.J.), the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee; Mark Warner (Va.), the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee; and Sherrod Brown (Ohio.), the top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee. The Trump administration told Congress in late January that CAATSA was already "serving as a deterrent" and there was no need to actually implement the penalties. The Democratic lawmakers, however, argue that there has been clear activity that warrants additional sanctions under the wide-ranging law. “Several mandatory provisions of the law have not been implemented by the administration, despite strong evidence that actions taken by or on behalf of the Russian government are in violation of the CAATSA sanctions law and applicable executive orders codified by CAATSA,” the senators wrote. The legislation aims to prevent Russia from reaping financial proceeds from its military and intelligence equipment sales by punishing those that make such purchases. The law also limits Trump's ability to lift prior sanctions or return diplomatic compounds seized from Russia under the Obama administration.

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Rogue Valley said:

Senate Dems call for probe into why Trump has not issued Russia sanctions

The Congressional sanction legislation against Russia was passed by both houses in July 2017. Trump signed the bill into law in August 2017. The deadline for the Trump administration fully implementing the Congressional Russian sanctions was 1 October 2017. The Trump administration finally levied partial sanctions against Russia in early March 2018 (5 months late). It is now past mid-May 2018 and the remainder of the Congressional Russian sanctions have yet to be imposed. This is a law Trump himself signed. wtf?

Related: Morgan Stanley Predicts Russian Recession in Case of New U.S. Sanctions

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RabidAlpaca said:

Here we have a piece of legislation that was passed nearly unanimously with overwhelming bipartisan support, by both chambers of Congress, and Trump still refuses to comply with the law. It makes you wonder, if he can't even explain why he's flagrantly disobeying the law to protect Russian interests over our own, he must be tremendously compromised.

"Never forget, comrade Donald, we still have pee tape..." ~ Vladimir Putin

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OrphanSlug said:

Publicity stunt... they have almost no ability to anything other than call for something. Might as well be calling for kick a puppy Thursdays.

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veritas1 said:

Hey, Trump isn't putting the screws to Russia hard enough. Guess that means there was collusion.

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Rogue Valley said:

Senate Dems call for probe into why Trump has not issued Russia sanctions

The Congressional sanction legislation against Russia was passed by both houses in July 2017. Trump signed the bill into law in August 2017. The deadline for the Trump administration fully implementing the Congressional Russian sanctions was 1 October 2017. The Trump administration finally levied partial sanctions against Russia in early March 2018 (5 months late). It is now past mid-May 2018 and the remainder of the Congressional Russian sanctions have yet to be imposed. This is a law Trump himself signed. wtf?

Related: Morgan Stanley Predicts Russian Recession in Case of New U.S. Sanctions

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SonOfDaedalus said:

You're misrepresenting this thread. This thread is not claiming that Trump is not beings as tough on Russia as the OP would want. The OP is saying that Trump is not implementing the sanctions Congress almost unanimously passed. Given Russia's bad behavior, given that Nikki Halley claimed we were going to get tough on Russia and implement these sanctions, given that Trump is being investigated for colluding with Russia, in this context, his behavior is suspicious. I don't see how you can be a rational person and deny that his refusal to implement these sanctions is inexplicable. It makes the accusations against him seem more credible.

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veritas1 said:

Hey, Trump isn't putting the screws to Russia hard enough. Guess that means there was collusion. Gotta love the simplistic thought processes. Meanwhile, China continues to steal our intellectual property at a prodigious rate. Yet, we are making trade deals with them. Maybe Trump colluded with China, too. Hey, maybe Obama colluded with Iran. He gave them $150 billion in cash after all.

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Greenbeard said:

China Contributing $500 Million to Trump-Linked Project in Indonesia

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