Amid strong bipartisan pushback to an agreement to import Russian oil, President Donald Trump defended the deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“The European Union paid Russia 250 Billion Dollars for Energy, and the Fake News Media doesn’t want to get near that story. I made the right choice for the American People,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social on Monday morning.
Some lawmakers have been publicly pushing back on Trump’s announcement that Russian President Vladimir Putin had agreed to supply diesel fuel to the global marketplace, an effort to bring down diesel prices.
Seven senators on the Foreign Relations Committee, four Republicans and three Democrats, released a statement arguing that the agreement violates a 2022 law that bans Russian energy imports “to prevent American dollars from financing Putin’s brutal war against Ukraine,” which began in February that year.
“President Trump’s decision to allow Russian diesel imports to the U.S. runs directly counter to that law,” they said. “The United States should not provide Putin with a financial lifeline while Russia continues to kill Ukrainian civilians. The Administration must immediately reverse course.”
Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kansas) agreed on Monday that the U.S. “should be tightening sanctions further, not undercutting them by allowing the import of Russian diesel” in a statement on the social media platform X.
In the U.S. House, Rep. Don Bacon (R-Nebraska) said Trump is “weak on Putin” and Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pennsylvania) said he would introduce bipartisan legislation to block all purchases of Russian oil.
The Treasury Department temporarily lifted sanctions on Russian diesel Friday, allowing the fuel to be imported into the U.S. until April. Trump also said Sunday that Russia and Ukraine agreed to an “energy ceasefire,” though Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said neither side agreed to and that Russia was still hitting Ukrainian energy infrastructure.
Persistently high energy prices driven primarily by the Iran war have been a major challenge for Republicans in the midterm elections. The economy has consistently ranked as the top issue for voters in the midterm elections, according to recent polling from the Pew Research Center, which also found that voter confidence in Trump’s ability to make good decisions about the economy has dropped.
GOP criticism around Trump’s move has built in recent days.
Sen. Thom Tillis (R-North Carolina) told NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday that the decision could have “deadly consequences.”
“This guy has a murderous rap sheet. He cannot be trusted. And I will guarantee you, at the first opportunity Putin has to embarrass or undermine President Trump, he will,” said Tillis, who was also part of the Foreign Relations Committee letter.
Former vice president Mike Pence said the decision to lift sanctions is “throwing a lifeline to Putin’s war machine.”
Democrats similarly hammered the White House, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (New York) calling it “a deal with the devil” enacted to help Trump’s “flailing political fortunes.”
Russia is one of the world’s largest oil exporters and was a major provider of fuel to European countries before the E.U. and other members of the Group of Seven countries implemented sanctions on Russia in 2023 in response to its war against Ukraine.
Some Republicans defended the president’s agreement as a needed compromise to bring down fuel prices.
“The president is focused on getting down the cost of energy,” Sen. John Barrasso (Wyoming), the second-ranking Republican in the Senate, said on CBS News’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday. Trump “has to make tough decisions. He’s balancing his effort to stop and end Putin’s war in Ukraine and lowering prices for American families.”
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Florida) said it will “massively benefit the American people.”
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