Updated (Sunday, June 18, 2017 at 1 pm) from Newsweek: The White House is worried that forcing the president to go through
congress to make changes to the sanctions will hamper his ability to improve
U.S.-Russia relations.
Trump has promised to improve the relationship between the two
countries but his ability to make concessions is complicated by ongoing
investigations into Russian interference in the U.S. election and whether
associates or members of Trump’s campaign colluded with Russia to sway the
election.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said
Saturday that the new sanctions will damage ties between the two countries,
adding in state-run TASS: “It will of
course complicate the Russian-American relationship. Putin further said that
his government does not have an immediate response to the bill but, last month,
Russia threatened a tit-for-tat response if its diplomatic properties were not
returned.
Sens. Marco Rubio (R-FL) and John McCain
(R-AZ) praised the new sanctions bill
when it passed the Senate, and Democrats expressed concern about President
Trump’s potential attempt to influence the bill in the House (as noted in this
blog next items below).
Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) told Politico: “I’m concerned
about it, but I don’t really have the ability to dictate what the White House
says to the House. I can’t imagine the House would want to be apologists for
Russian behavior after the combined weight of the intelligence communities all
weighing in saying: Look, they attacked the United States.”
I note clearly as I can: The Trump team will do anything to brush aside and ignore and deny
anything about the 2016 election and Russian hanky-panky by Putin and tons of Russian
hackers. This latest stunt to stop or slow down sanctions proves the point. I
have no doubt that S/C Mueller is looking at that closely, or at least he
should be.
Finally, shame on Donald J. Trump and his minions
who keep sucking up to Putin with the miles and miles of denial ... that in and of itself is
very alarming to say the least.
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Original post starts here: Pretty startling story and if
this is not obstruction of justice, or abuse of presidential power, or even quid
pro quo for old Rex, then what the hell do we call it?
And, please don’t anyone say: “It’s politics
as usual” or “It’s the President’s
right” or even some other silly-ass crap like that – it is not routine –
nothing like changing a bill to get what you want (which we all understand its “politics
as usual,” this is not, plain and simple). In my view it’s probably a little
bit of all those things I just mentioned.
The story: With the Senate passing tougher sanctions on Russia, the White House is reportedly hoping to pump the brakes.
Politico reports that President Trump and his staff are acting quickly and working with House Republicans “to make the bill more favorable to Russia.”
This part can only be
described anther Trump WTF moment in a long strong string of other WTF moments
since January 20, 2017…
For example, Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) told Politico that “Trump wants to weaken the bill or stop it all together,” then he added that heard the Trump administration is reaching out to House members “to slow it, block it.”
For example, Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) told Politico that “Trump wants to weaken the bill or stop it all together,” then he added that heard the Trump administration is reaching out to House members “to slow it, block it.”
If that is true and especially
under this dark cloud of Russian election interference, then I suggest
that no Republican should ever be elected to any public office whether it’s the
local Dog Catcher, or a member of Congress, or even President – never, ever again.
As I said up front: What do we call this? I suspect shortly we will find out –and it’s not
going to be pretty, either.
Wait and see and thanks for stopping
by. Come again.
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