By ignoring the will of Congress, Trump gives Putin another pass
On the same day it was reported that the CIA director, Mike Pompeo, had said he expected Russia to meddle in the 2018 midterm elections, the Trump administration failed to fulfill a congressional mandate to punish Russia for its meddling in the 2016 election.
Both houses of Congress almost unanimously approved legislation last year requiring more sanctions against Russia, and those who do business with Russia, in response to the hacking and disinformation campaign with which U.S. intelligence agencies say Moscow sought to swing the election to Donald Trump. But in an announcement last Monday night, the administration ignored the law’s core intent.
While the law has been in effect for six months, not one new sanction has been imposed even as Russia has continued to interfere in democratic institutions here and abroad.
The law was forced on Trump because he not only refused to punish the Russians, he refused then and refuses now to even acknowledge the Russian role in this assault on the U.S. democratic process. Heck, the head of Russian foreign intelligence met with administration officials outside Washington recently even though he is under sanctions, according to the Senate minority leader, Chuck Schumer of New York. How does that happen?
Under the law, Monday was the deadline for the administration to impose sanctions on companies doing business with Russia’s defense and intelligence sectors and produce a report on Russian oligarchs and senior political figures.
In the case of sanctions that were supposed to be imposed for buying Russian weapons, the legislation does provide for exceptions, and the State Department said the administration would take no action because the law and the threat of sanctions had deterred countries from fulfilling billions of dollars worth of arms
Heck, the head of Russian foreign intelligence met with administration officials outside Washington recently even though he is under sanctions, according to the Senate minority leader, Chuck Schumer of New York. How does that happen?
deals. But it gave no evidence that was the case — except in a classified briefing for senators. So we are left wondering whether there is a valid reason for the decision or whether Trump is brazenly refusing to carry out the law and is once again utterly disregarding the constitutional system.
Not only would the president be sticking a thumb in Congress’ eye, it would be yet another pass to President Vladimir Putin of Russia, whose attempt to help elect Trump has been confirmed repeatedly by the intelligence community, even officials like Pompeo whom the president appointed.
If the administration could not find reason for imposing those sanctions, the law provides other powers. In a letter last week to Trump, Sen. Ben Cardin, D-MD., and other Democratic lawmakers urged the president to levy sanctions on Russia for cyberattacks in the United States and elsewhere.
The oligarchs report was supposed to detail those people with close, and corrupt, ties to Putin. Instead, in a sign of how contemptuously it views the sanctions law, the administration made public a list of 96 Russian billionaires copied almost entirely from a 2017 Forbes article. But it did not punish any of them or the 114 political figures named.
The list of oligarchs was intended to demonstrate the breadth of Putin’s crony network and the extent of their net worth, their assets and business relationships — information likely of keen interest to millions of Russians who are not part of the moneyed class. Some dissident Russians believe that exposing such corruption is one of the few ways in Putin’s autocratic country to fire up citizens and encourage them to lobby for political change. While Putin is the only viable candidate as he stands for re-election March 18, there have been massive opposition rallies in recent days.
The list names 96 oligarchs each worth more than $1 billion, as well as all 30 members of Putin’s Cabinet and more than 40 of his other advisers. That the list is virtually identical to the one Forbes published is no coincidence. A State Department representative told Buzzfeed that was essentially where the names came from. So it lacks the carefully vetted details that would describe their corruption.
In the weeks before the list was revealed, Russian tycoons, officials and their lawyers showed great anxiety over the contents. On Tuesday, while a Kremlin spokesman accused the Americans of putting together an enemies list, other powerful Russians scoffed at it.
The bottom line: Trump has provided Putin with more reassurance that he has nothing to fear from the president of the United States as he undermines U.S. democracy.