Senators cheer Trump order on meddling with elections, but want further action
WASHINGTON — Senators are pleased to see the Trump administration doing something about election interference, but they don’t think Wednesday’s executive order will be enough.
Some of the concern comes from the fact that even if federal agencies report evidence of Russian evidence to interfere in the 2018 midterms, President Donald Trump could still waive the imposition of sanctions.
Perhaps not coincidentally, the Senate Banking Committee was holding a hearing Wednesday afternoon with outside witnesses to discuss new tools to counter Russia. The Banking panel has lead jurisdiction when it comes to developing sanctions legislation.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren was among the most direct in her criticism during the hearing.
“President Trump’s mixed signals send the message to Putin that he will not face maximum punishment for trying to interfere in our democracy,” the Massachusetts Democrat said. “That’s not good for our security, that’s not good for the security of our allies.”
The vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee offered a similar critique.
“Unfortunately, President Trump demonstrated in Helsinki and elsewhere that he simply cannot be counted upon to stand up to Putin when it matters,” Sen. Mark Warner said in a statement, referring to the TrumpPutin summit this summer in Finland, where the U.S. president deferred to the former KGB chief on conclusion about Russia’s past meddling in the 2016 election. The Virginia Democrat, who is also a member of the Banking panel, said legislative action is still required, particularly as it pertains to sending a message to Russia to avoid further attempts to undermine U.S. democracy.
“If we are going to actually deter Russia and others from interfering in our elections in the future, we need to spell out strong, clear consequences, without ambiguity,” Warner said. “We remain woefully underprepared to secure the upcoming elections, and an executive order is simply no substitute for congressional action, such as the strong measures included in the bipartisan DETER Act.”
That’s a reference to legislation led by Florida Republican Marco Rubio and Maryland Democrat Chris Van Hollen. Those two senators said earlier Wednesday that their bill was needed to impose mandatory sanctions upon the discovery of interference in the midterms.
Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown, the ranking Democrat on the Banking Committee, echoed much of that sentiment.
“If this executive order signals a newfound willingness by the president to actually sanction Putin and other Russians responsible for attacks against our elections, that would be an important change,” Brown said in a statement. “Even so, an order which effectively authorizes, but does not automatically require, sanctions for continued illegal Russian attacks on our democracy is no substitute for broader mandatory sanctions required by law that target not only Russia’s interference in US elections, but its election meddling elsewhere, and its aggression in Syria and Ukraine.”