Schumer Demands Trump Administration Come Clean On Russian Intel Head’s Visit To United States
Head of Russian Foreign Intelligence – Currently Prohibited from Traveling to the U.S. Thanks to Sanctions – Was Permitted to Visit U.S. To Meet With Top Officials As Administration Was Deciding Not To Implement Additional Russian Sanctions
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer today delivered the following remarks on the Trump Administration’s refusal to enforce sanctions against Russia. Below are his remarks which can also be viewed here:
Throughout his term in office, President Trump has failed time and time again to stand up to Vladimir Putin, despite the assault that he carried out on our democracy in the 2016 elections.
Now that President Trump has decided not to implement the sanctions that Congress passed, with an overwhelming 97-2 bipartisan vote in the Senate, and similar in the House…now he has decided not to implement those sanctions.
These are mandatory sanctions. They passed 97-2 in the Senate. He is ignoring them and he is not implementing them, even though they were mandatory, making things worse.
Just this morning, the Russian embassy tweeted that the head of Russia’s foreign intelligence, Sergey Naryshkin, a man under sanction by the United States, was in our country meeting with his U.S. counterparts. The Trump administration must immediately come clean and answer questions: which U.S. officials did he meet with?
Did any White House or National Security Council official meet with Naryshkin? What did they discuss? Surely he didn’t come alone, so which other sanctioned Russian intelligence agency figures has the Trump Administration let into our country?
And most important is his visit, why the Trump Administration decided to forego sanctions, which as you know the deadline was yesterday.
This is a serious national security issue. Russia hacked our elections. We sanctioned the head of their foreign intelligence, and then the Trump Administration invites him to waltz through our front door. This is an extreme dereliction of duty by President Trump, who seems more intent on undermining the rule of law in this country than standing up to Putin.
Instead of spending all of his time attempting to undermine the credibility of the FBI, and waging an all-out assault on American institutions, the President should train his fire on the foreign adversary, Russia, that attacked us.
When it comes to Russia, President Trump has fallen down on the job time and time and time again. He owes the American people some answers.
