Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin raised the topic of Russian sanctions - unprompted - during a White Hour briefing Friday, saying once again something is coming soon.
“I don’t want to leave here without emphasizing -- you haven’t asked me yet -- we are working on Russia sanctions,” Mnuchin said, without providing many details.
“We are closely working with the FBI and giving information as it relates to the recent suit and, as appropriate, we will look at sanctioning individuals from the information they have,” Mnuchin said. “I will be back here within the next several weeks to talk about that.”
The recent suit is a reference to Special Counsel Robert Mueller's indictment of 13 Russian nationals and three Russian entities for 2016 U.S. election interference.
After the Trump administration blew off a January 29th deadline to impose new sanctions on Russia, Mnuchin told the Senate Banking Committee the sanctions were coming "in the near future." He made the same promise before the Senate Finance Committee on February 14th.
Three senior U.S. officials who work on sanctions also told reporters this week they are considering new Russia sanctions, but did not give any indication of targets or timing, simply claiming the sanctions process takes time.
But the Trump administration did manage to issue sweeping new sanctions against North Korea on Friday, measures the president called, the "heaviest sanctions ever imposed on a country before."
Mnuchin Says New Sanctions Against Russia Are Coming in ‘Weeks’ (Bloomberg Politics)
Trump administration hits North Korea with more sanctions (Los Angeles Times)
Mnuchin vows additional Russia sanctions will be imposed in 'near future' (CNN)