Trump issues order to bypass Russian sanctions in bill named for late Lindsey Graham
Por Giselle Ruhiyyih Ewing — POLITICO – TOP Stories
President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Friday waiving key sanctions outlined in the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia Act, significantly dulling the tool Congress handed him to pressure Moscow to the negotiating table.
“I am hereby waiving the application of such sanctions, restrictions, and duties provided for in the Graham Act,” Trump wrote in the order. “I have submitted to the Congress a certification that the issuance of such a waiver at this time is in the national interests of the United States.”
Trump signed the bill into law last month, culminating a more than one-year-long effort spearheaded by the legislation’s namesake, late Sen. Lindsey Graham, an ally of the president and Russia hawk who died in July.
Critics saw it as further evidence of Trump siding with Russia, which launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 that has resulted in an estimated 1.4 million casualties.
“Trump’s latest surrender to Putin again betrays our Ukrainian partners and defies clear congressional intent of legislation designed to punish Russia for its illegal war of aggression,” Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.) said on social media following the announcement.
Beyer urged Congress to “fix this flawed law” to prevent what he characterized as Trump “capitulating to Putin.”
“One week after the diesel deal and the Trump administration keeps the pressure off Russia,” said former State Department sanctions coordinator Daniel Fried.
The White House had 30 days upon signing to either implement the measures outlined in the law or waive them. The only requirement for the waiver was a certification to Congress that the decision was in U.S. national interests. The White House has not clarified why the move was in U.S. interests.
Trump’s decision to waive nearly all of the sanctions in the legislation two days before the implementation deadline allows Moscow to escape harsh economic measures intended to push Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the war against Ukraine. It comes as Trump has taken a kinder tone with Russia and increasingly voiced his ire with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in recent days.
Last Friday, Trump announced a temporary lifting of sanctions on Russian diesel and floated a deal for the U.S. to buy the fuel from Moscow to lower skyrocketing diesel prices ahead of midterms.
The announcement drew immediate backlash from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, as well as concern about the future of the newly signed sanctions legislation.
A bipartisan band of senators released a statement earlier this week slamming the decision and questioning its legality. A cohort of both Democratic and Republican House lawmakers also condemned the move, calling on Trump to scrap the deal and leverage the Sanctioning Russia Act against the Kremlin.
Fonte: POLITICO – TOP Stories