Today, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Ranking Member of House Committee on Financial Services, issued the following statement in response to the Trump Administration’s failure to impose sanctions on persons engaging in transactions with the intelligence or defense sectors of the Government of the Russian Federation, pursuant to section 231 of the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act.

“More than a year after our intelligence community unanimously concluded that Putin and the Russian government undertook significant efforts to help Trump’s 2016 election chances and undermine democratic institutions, it is completely unacceptable that the President has refused to impose the Russia sanctions enacted by Congress in 2017.

“Since early last year, I have warned about Trump’s long game of aiding Putin and Russia through sanctions policy. Now, he has defied Congress and done just that. The Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act was enacted with overwhelming bipartisan support after it had become clear that Trump and his administration had no intention of holding Russia accountable and deterring future meddling. By failing to implement the Russia sanctions called for in the Act, Trump has once again shown that he cares more about advancing the interests of Putin and Russian oligarchs than protecting the American people. Putin helped out Trump and now Trump is doing his best to return the favor.”

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