President Donald Trump is facing the very real possibility that members of his own party may try to throw up roadblocks to his growing alliance with Russian strongman Vladimir Putin, The Hill reported.
Trump signed an executive order late Friday waiving sanctions on Russia that Congress passed last month, days before most of them were set to take effect, the Associated Press reported. The Senate approved the Lindsey Graham Russian Sanctions Act 86-11.
The Hill reported that the prospect of a deal on Ukraine with Russia and China has also left some GOP senators “alarmed.” The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday that Putin “proposed a summit” with Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping to discuss ending the war. A senior U.S. official told the Journal that Trump had not agreed to it but could be receptive.
Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) said a potential summit involving Putin to decide Ukraine’s fate is “foolhardy” and “morally wrong.”
“Ukrainians have got to be part of any peace deal. It’s not only essential because otherwise we won’t have peace, but it’s also the right thing to do,” he told Sirius XM’s “The Julie Mason Show.” “Russia is trying to kill Americans around the world, covertly and overtly.”
Cassidy is not alone.
Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) said in a CNN interview that “Putin is playing President Trump like a fiddle.” Even Trump allies are uneasy. Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-ND) told The Hill last month that inviting Putin to the G20 summit in Miami in December was “giving [Vladimir Putin] more credit than he deserves.”
The sanctions waiver followed Ukrainian complaints that Washington had restricted its access to Starshield, the satellite network Ukrainian forces use to operate drones. The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, ordered the slowdown, citing people familiar with the matter, and that Musk and Trump discussed the decision after it became public. Reuters had reported that the order came from inside the White House, and a senior U.S. official told Reuters the president never made such a request.
Four Republican senators, Sens. John Cornyn (R-TX), Susan Collins (R-ME), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Tillis, signed a bipartisan letter Thursday to Pentagon Inspector General Platte Moring “demanding an investigation” into whether senior Pentagon officials ordered or knew in advance about the slowdown.
The controversy came days after Trump announced a deal with Putin to import Russian diesel to combat high fuel prices. Senate Republican Policy Committee Chair Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) said she was “surprised” by the announcement and that “it raised questions” about whether the administration is following the law and Congress’s wishes, according to The Hill.
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