Exclusive / House Democrats slam Trump over Russia sanctions - Semafor

House Democrats are panning the Trump administration after US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer wouldn’t commit last week to imposing Russian sanctions recently enacted by Congress.

Rep. Greg Meeks of New York, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, called Greer’s comments to Semafor “a completely unsurprising development that only reaffirms what I’ve said all along: There’s no reason to believe [President Donald] Trump or his administration will suddenly hold Russia accountable.”

Rep. Don Beyer of Virginia, the top House Democrat on the Joint Economic Committee, said that “as I and others warned, this legislation provides the president with extremely broad waiver authority to ignore most of the bill’s provisions.”

He pointed to recent reporting that Trump is weighing lifting existing Russian sanctions: “I am not holding my breath to see him take any substantive action targeting Putin’s regime.”

The White House didn’t return a request for comment.