On Thursday, President Trump tweeted that Congress was at fault for the poor relations between the United States and Russia. His tweet read, “Our relationship with Russia is at an all-time & very dangerous low. You can thank Congress, the same people that can't even give us HCare!” This tweet comes just a day after Trump signed what he called “seriously flawed” sanctions against Russia into law.
The bill limits the president’s power to lessen or remove sanctions against Russia and includes sanctions against Iran and North Korea as well. By blaming Congress for the United States’ poor relations with Russia, some critics argue, Trump is not putting any of the responsibility on Russian president Vladimir Putin for the annexation of Crimea, meddling with American and European elections, and deploying a cruise missile and consequently violating an arms control treaty.
Republican Senator John McCain tweeted “Our relationship w/ Russia is at dangerous low. You can thank Putin for attacking our democracy, invading neighbors & threatening our allies.”
The New York Times reports that with the new sanctions in place, congressional committees and government officials will further investigate possible links between Trump’s election campaign staff and the Russian government.
Before the new sanctions were even signed into law, Putin retaliated against the United States by seizing two U.S. diplomatic properties and demanding that the United States slash its embassy staff stationed in Russia by 755 employees.
Trump strangely quiet
Trump has not issued a public statement regarding Russia’s retaliation as of yet.
He also signed the new sanctions into law without inviting any news media outlets, as he has done with previous laws that he has signed.
Russian PM weighs in
Shortly after the sanctions were signed into law Wednesday, Russian prime minister Dmitri A. Medvedev took to Facebook to lament what he sees as the loss of the possibility for improvement in relations between the United States and Russia.
Medvedev ridiculed President Trump’s decision to sign the bill, claiming that he had been forced to sign the sanctions into law by Congress. He went on to call the Trump administration “impotent,” and state that Trump had given up his executive powers to Congress “in the most humiliating way possible.” Medvedev also mocked the “American establishment” which he believes is seeking to remove Trump from power.