Friday, October 27, 2017

In what should be no surprise to anyone the Trump Administration missed the deadline to implement those Russia sanctions and are only now starting to buckle to pressure from Congress.

Look I am doing the best I can, but they keep making me do my job.
Courtesy of WaPo: 

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 sanctionsTrump 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. 

9 comments:

  1. Anonymous12:12 PM

    LOL the republicans paid for the dossier, then gave it to Clinton. Russia has a thick file on trump some in the dossier and it will be used as needed. Whew what a dirty nasty mess. And Kelly ann "Conway" wants to know all about it. Lol (:

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  2. Anonymous12:28 PM


    The newest developments in the Trump-Russia scandal, explained

    In the past several days, major developments on the Trump-Russia front have given Democrats new ammunition to bolster their claim that the Trump campaign colluded with Moscow, given the Trump administration new ammunition to bolster its counter-claim that the whole scandal has been ginned up by its enemies, and led a senior Republican lawmaker to question whether the White House was going soft on Moscow for nefarious reasons.

    It’s a lot to unpack, and we’re here to help.

    Hillary Clinton and the Steele dossier, Cambridge Analytica, shady Russia sanction delays — we break it all down.


    https://www.vox.com/world/2017/10/27/16552458/trump-russia-clinton-steele-cambridge-analytica

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous12:32 PM

    When an eight-year-old on the playground responds to an accusation with “I know you are but what am I?”, even the other children know how lame a retort it is. But when the Republican Party says the same thing, it’s much more than a desperate attempt to flummox their opponents and confuse any onlookers.

    It’s a careful, coordinated, and comprehensive strategy.

    That’s what Republicans are doing right now with regard to the question of Russian interference in the 2016 election, which it is more than clear was 1) comprehensive, involving hacking, propaganda, and outreach to Trump representatives; and 2) clearly intended to help Donald Trump win the election, or at the very least wound Hillary Clinton should she become president.

    What’s happening now is an audacious effort on the part of Republicans to convince everyone that not only did Trump and his campaign not work with Russia, in fact it was Hillary Clinton who did so, and Vladimir Putin (whose hatred of Clinton burns with the fire of a thousand suns) actually wanted her to win and tried to help her.

    If you’ve been conscious for the last year and a half, that surely strikes you as deranged, something no one could be dumb enough to believe. But Republicans have run this play many times before, and by the time they’re done, half the public will believe it.

    It has three essential components.

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2017/10/27/the-gop-strategy-on-the-russia-scandal-no-puppet-youre-the-puppet/

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  4. Anonymous12:51 PM

    His sorry fat ass sorely needs to be impeached! They've got facts and reasons - time to start the process, Republicans!

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous3:32 PM

      You're funny! As of yet they don't have any reason to impeach as the Mueller investigation has not brought forth any impeachable offenses, and yes, he's batshit crazy and a bunch of qualified doctors have gotten together and pretty much diagnosed him as being mentally unfit for office, but impeachment is a longwinded affair requiring lots of hearings and lots of proof and sorry, I don't see that happening with what is on the table now.

      Delete
  5. Chenagrrl1:00 PM

    Reading about Catherine the Great. Her first husband, Peter III, was a puppet of Elizabeth of Russia. He deported himself very much like Donald J. Trump.

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  6. Anonymous3:30 PM

    Guess he'll just keep delaying these sanctions until the courts tell him he can't. There was some question of constitutional legality in the way the Congress passed this and sent it to Trump's desk so I believe he is just waiting until it gets pushed to the high court for a decision on whether he needs to enact sanctions or not.

    I'm sure that Trump didn't himself question the Constitutional legality of Congress's actions but obviously Trump has some good lawyers earning their keep and scrutinizing every little thing.

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  7. Anonymous4:00 PM

    I was wondering how he was going to get around congress. So he is just not going to implement anything other than dismantling our government. I suspect Putin will make a visit to the White House eventually. After all he bought it.

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  8. Anonymous6:55 PM

    Turns out that Tillerson dismantled the department in the State Dept. that would make sure the sanctions were put into effect immediately after Dotard signed the sanctions bill.

    Hmmmm.....

    ReplyDelete

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