House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi on Tuesday lashed out the Trump administration for what she and others in her party called a “dangerous and brazen” failure to follow through on Congress’ efforts to punish Moscow for meddling in the 2016 U.S. elections with new sanctions.
“Instead of holding Russia accountable for its attacks on our country undermining our elections, the President is waging an all-out attack on our patriotic intelligence and law enforcement communities making our country less safe,” Mrs. Pelosi said in statement.
As required by Congress’ new Russia sections law, the Treasury Department late Monday released a long-awaited list of 210 senior Russian political and business figures in what analysts called a strategy of “naming and shaming” Russians who benefited from their relationships with the Kremlin.
The law, Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA), passed last August and is intended to place harsh international sanctions on the named individuals. President Trump reluctant signed it and called it “unconstitutional.”
On Monday, in a parallel announcement to the Treasury’s list of 210 rich Russians, the State Department announced it had no plans to impose new sanctions. The news caught many in Washington by surprise, especially Capitol Hill Democrats, who accused the Trump administration of letting “Russia off the hook again” by not taking substantial action — words attributed to the party’s top member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Rep. Eliot Engel.
On Tuesday, Mrs. Pelosi echoed the Democratic talking point: “The White House’s repeated decisions to let Putin have a free pass make Americans question, what do the Russians have on the President, politically, financially and personally?
“Democrats will continue to protect our democracy against foreign attacks and stand up to Republicans’ efforts to let Russia off the hook,” she added.
On Tuesday, Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin pushed back against the criticism, declaring that new sanctions would soon be announced. He also brushed aside suggestions that the individuals that Treasury named had been copied from a Forbes’ magazine list of Russia’s richest citizens.
“The intent was not to have sanctions by the delivery report last night,” Mr. Mnuchin said during an appearance before the Senate Banking Committee. “The intent was to do an extremely thorough analysis — it’s hundreds of pages — and there will be sanctions that come out of this report.”
On Tuesday while campaigning in advance of Russia’s own presidential election, which will occur in March, Mr. Putin called the new list “an unfriendly act.” He also weighed in on the lack of new sanctions.
“We were prepared to undertake retaliatory steps, and quite serious ones, too, which would cut our relations to zero,” he added. “But we will refrain from such steps for the time being.”
• David Sherfinski contributed to this article.
• Dan Boylan can be reached at dboylan@washingtontimes.com.
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