Trump rails at Congress over Russia tensions
President warns relations have sunk to ‘dangerous low’
A day after he grudgingly signed into law sanctions against Russia, President Trump blamed Congress on Thursday for declining relations with the country that is accused of meddling in last year’s presidential election.
“Our relationship with Russia is at an all-time & very dangerous low,” Trump tweeted. “You can thank Congress, the same people that can’t even give us HCare!”
Both houses of Congress overwhelmingly passed a package of sanctions against Russia, Iran and North Korea — and included a key provision preventing the president from easing or waiving the penalties on Russia unless lawmakers approve.
When signing the sanctions into law Wednesday, Trump said the bill encroached on the president’s authority to negotiate deals with leaders of other countries. Lawmakers from both parties brushed off Trump’s criticism, while Russia attacked the president on Twitter.
“The Trump administration has shown its total weakness by handing over executive power to Congress in the most humiliating way,” Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev tweeted.
Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., a supporter of both Trump and the sanctions bill, said responsibility for poor U.S.-Russian relations rests with President Vladimir Putin. He cited Russia’s attempts to interfere in last year’s election through a campaign of cyberattacks and fake news, as well as its threats to neighboring countries. “It’s Vladimir Putin’s fault,” Cotton said on MSNBC’s Morning Joe.
The bill was intended to allay concerns among lawmakers that the president’s push for better relations with Putin might lead him to relax the penalties without first securing concessions from the Kremlin. “We want to make sure the president will not lift these sanctions,” said Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., on MSNBC.