Deadline looms for Trump and Russia sanctions

[DonViejo]

Source: Politico

The president has until Monday to implement stiff penalties targeting the Kremlin — and lawmakers aren’t sure he’ll comply on time.

By ELANA SCHOR 01/28/2018 06:54 AM EST

President Donald Trump’s willingness to crack down on Russia will be seriously tested come Monday.

Trump faces a major deadline to use the Russia sanctions power that Congress overwhelmingly voted to give him — and it’s anybody’s guess as to whether he’ll comply on time after missing the last deadline.

Scrutiny is high, amid lingering suspicion of Trump’s eagerness to mend fences with Russia and with Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation still digging into election meddling by Moscow. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle remain keen to get tough on Vladimir Putin’s government. And they have reason to worry about whether the popular sanctions package Trump reluctantly signed in August will be implemented just as hesitantly. The Russia provisions of the bill were designed as a response to Moscow’s meddling in the 2016 election, which the president himself has downplayed.

Furthermore, the last time Trump’s administration confronted a deadline to set in motion penalties against Putin’s government, it took more than three weeks — and a nudge from Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) — for Trump’s team to comply.

Read more: https://www.politico.com/story/2018/01/28/trump-russia-sanctions-deadline-373106

[dem4decades]

1. If they cave on this Trump will know he can fire Mueller.

Cause Republicans are complicit.

[Hortensis]

5. Not the same thing, specifically not the same laws.

We are a nation of laws. And forcing SCOTUS to step in because the president is breaking the law would definitely not be a winning move, even with a conservative majority.

[trusty elf]

2. Effing traitor!

[machoneman]

3. He'll stall, delay, lie and ultimately ignore the demand for sanctions. n/m

n/m

[mpcamb]

7. It's a bad day for trump to move with Vlad tossing his election opponent in jail.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/russian-protesters-urge-boycott-of-presidential-voteas-opposition-leader-navalny-is-arrested/2018/01/28/57c6c1a4-021c-11e8-86b9-8908743c79dd_story.html?utm_term=.b96a35088c67

[UpInArms]

4. Id wager he wont impose sanctions

Or Pootie poor will release the pee pee tape

[Hortensis]

6. WELL, in the meantime we're poking with a sharp stick

anyway, even if it's a much smaller one: Another sanctions law requires

U.S. List of Oligarchs Linked to Putin Alarms Russia’s Rich

... that the United States identify Russian oligarchs in a public list has set off a cavalcade of anxious lobbying across Washington by those who fear their links to the Kremlin will jeopardize their financial well-being.

The Trump administration is set to release the list on Monday in a report that — to the surprise of many — serves as a new tool to punish wealthy backers of the world’s autocrats, simply by naming them.

... More worryingly, lobbyists and experts say, it could make them vulnerable to future sanctions through their associations with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia. The list “has caused more concern among wealthy Russians in Moscow, London and Geneva than there has been since sanctions were imposed on Russia post-Ukraine,” ...

Political appointees in the Trump administration, spooked by the investigation of Russian meddling in the 2016 election that is being led by Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel, have given the report a broad scope. It has been up to government career employees to create a catalog that is widely expected to be credible and complete, said more than a dozen people with knowledge of the report.

The oligarchs’ report must include “indices of corruption,” as well as the net worth and known sources of income of both the primary person listed and of their spouses, children, parents and siblings. Any United States assets, like real estate, must be listed, too. Some names are likely to be made public, while others may be included in a classified appendix, officials said. Some observers fear that the administration, which opposed the legislation, will decide to make most of the report classified.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/26/us/politics/russia-oligarchs-list-sanctions.html

[UpInArms]

10. Cool ... hopefully, all the Russianpublicans face exposure

Thanks

👍🏼

[Hortensis]

12. Hopefully embarrassing exposure, and not classified.

These guys pay a lot for respectability in the western world. It'd be a shame not to stick it up their noses.

[blueinredohio]

8. I'm not holding my breath

[bluestarone]

9. my moneys on

HE WON'T DO A FUCKING THING

[ChiTownDenny]

11. Yup.

And neither will the Republic controlled Congress.

[hydrolastic]

13. The republicans won't do anything but

I let anyone around me that will listen that it is unamerican to support a president that is so affiliated with Russia in the way Trump is. Also that the Republican party and the NRA are unamerican institutions in general. Besides the fact that it is illegal to accept money or anything of value from a foreign power, The worst part is the degradation of American values around the world due to his misleading America first policies.