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| Look I am doing the best I can, but they keep making me do my job. |
The Trump administration is belatedly working to implement the first part of Russia-related sanctions mandated by legislation President Trump signed almost three months ago. Having blown through the first deadline, the administration is now faced with a skeptical Congress preparing a range of action-forcing measures.
One would think an administration besieged by what it claims are unfair Russia controversies would take pains to avoid being seen as failing to implement actions mandated by Congress against the regime of Vladimir Putin. But not the Trump administration. President Trump signed the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act on Aug. 2. The deadline for implementing a host of Russia-related sanctions was Oct. 1.
The State Department, where the bottleneck is, insists it is working as fast as possible. But Congress is not taking the administration’s word for it. A senior Democratic aide told me told me bipartisan discussions are now underway in the Senate to try and increase the pressure – through a possible letter with dozens of signatures, a press strategy to raise the volume and a possible Senate resolution chastising the administration for failing to meet the deadline.
As you may remember that the White House worked to soften the sanctions, Trump then resisted signing the bill for the sanctions, and now we are learning they are almost a month late implementing the sanctions.
Gee, if only there were some evidence that the Trump Administration was colluding with Russia.
Actually according to TPM's Josh Marshall there is even clearer evidence that Trump is working with the Russians and assisting in their continued attack on our democracy:
Most of us likely see Trump’s comments in the context of his endless nonsense and lying. But that’s not the important part. Russia may not be an enemy but it is an adversary state which has defined a strategic priority of destabilizing the US and the European Union. That includes information operations and likely actual vote tally tampering as well. This is all happening. It’s a direct attack on the country. It’s not something we need to overreact about. It’s not something we cannot combat through counter-intelligence operations and societal awareness. But it is a serious and on-going attack. If the President is out there publicly saying it’s not happening, saying it’s a hoax, he is actively and directly assisting the attack. There’s no other way to put it. He is charged by his oath with preserving the constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic. He pledged to defend against all attacks but he’s actively assisting one. That is just as much the case as it would be if he repeatedly denied an adversary power were moving conventional arms into positions which threatened the United States.
He is actively and directly assisting the attack and the attack is on-going. Why he’s doing that is not really relevant. He’s doing it.
Excellent point, and one that the Democrats and the media need to start making every single day.
Source http://ift.tt/2iFd4xZ
