The Trump administration told Congress on Monday that bipartisan legislation passed last year authorizing new sanctions on Russia is already “serving as a deterrent,” and there’s no need to actually implement the penalties at this time.
A spokesperson for the State Department said the mere possibility of facing sanctions through the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) has served as an effective countermeasure.
“Given the long timeframes generally associated with major defense deals, the results of this effort are only beginning to become apparent. From that perspective, if the law is working, sanctions on specific entities or individuals will not need to be imposed because the legislation is, in fact, serving as a deterrent,” the spokesperson said.
The 2017 legislation allows President Trump to postpone imposing sanctions on people or entities if he determines they are largely scaling back their transactions with Russia’s defense or intelligence sectors, as long as he notifies the appropriate congressional committees at least every 180 days that they are seeing such progress.
The move is likely to be sharply criticized by Democrats and Russia hawks, who have called on Trump to take a stronger hand in countering Moscow’s election hacking, aggression in Ukraine and support of the Syrian regime.
If Trump didn’t opt to delay, he would have to impose at least five sanctions on those that knowingly conduct significant transactions with Russia.
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The move comes amid the ongoing special counsel probe into Moscow’s hacking efforts during the 2016 election. Trump has repeatedly dismissed the investigation as a “witch hunt” drummed up by Democrats to explain their surprise loss at the ballot box.
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Trump won't implement new sanctions against Russia despite pressure from Congress https://t.co/F474fllUdc pic.twitter.com/xB9C7gkbEc
— The Hill (@thehill) January 30, 2018
The Trump admin has notified Congress that last year’s bipartisan Russia sanctions bill is serving as a “deterrent” and as such, specific sanctions aren’t needed at this time. From a State Dept spox: pic.twitter.com/rwkd6Vzh66
— Elana Schor (@eschor) January 29, 2018
As predicted: Now we know, officially, that Trump puts keeping Putin happy & Russia sweet above US law. https://t.co/XRf9bOFNXY
— John Schindler (@20committee) January 29, 2018
Well, if this doesn’t make Trump look guilty in the Russian election meddling inquiry…
Didn’t you hear the latest? The Russian meddling was all a lie according to Trump supporters. Congress was misled. No matter how obvious it is to the rest of us Trump supporters will turn anything that looks bad for their hero into some kind of fantasy that makes it look like everyone except Trump is a liar.
Oh, I’ve been told there is no proof of collusion and the investigation should have ended months ago. Of course, these fans said that there was no proof before the investigation began. If Trump says there is no proof, his followers will accept that statement as truth without question.
I love to watch his supporters when he is caught in a lie or he breaks a promise, twist it into something else — particularly, when they try to turn the lie or broken promise on us “Never Trumpers.”
BREAKING: Russian News Outlet TASS reports that the Russian Spy Chief, Sergey Naryshkin, who is under US sanctions, entered the US w/ Trump's approval.
No US officials have mentioned this visit & it appears that TASS released this info to retaliate against Trump's sanctions list
— Brian Krassenstein🐬 (@krassenstein) January 30, 2018
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