Senators Bob Menendez (D-NJ), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee; Mark Warner (D-VA.), Vice Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee; and Sherrod Brown (D-OH), top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee have sent a letter to inspectors general of State, Treasury, and the Intelligence Community asking why the Trump administration has failed to implement the Russia sanctions mandated by law last year.
Congress passed (by veto-proof majorities) and the president signed (albeit reluctantly) the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) on August 2, 2017.
The Trump administration told Congress in late January that CAATSA was already "serving as a deterrent" and there was no need to actually implement the penalties.
A spokesperson for the State Department said at the time that the mere possibility of facing sanctions through CAATSA had served as an effective countermeasure.
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The Democratic lawmakers, however, argue that there has been clear activity that warrants additional sanctions under the wide-ranging law.
From the letter:
Several mandatory provisions of the law have not been implemented by the administration, despite strong evidence that actions taken by or on behalf of the Russian government are in violation of the CAATSA sanctions law and applicable executive orders codified by CAATSA. For example, the U.S. government released a joint statement on April 16, 2018 with British authorities that accused Russian government-backed hackers of conducting cyber attacks in other countries, including the U.S., which should trigger sanctions under Section 224 of CAATSA. Yet the administration has not imposed any such sanctions in response, nor has it issued waivers under this provision.
Likewise, it seems clear that several weeks ago the administration had identified specific Russian entities that had played a role in supplying or otherwise supporting the government of Syria’s chemical weapons program, had prepared a list of such entities for sanctions designation, and Ambassador Nikki Haley publicly announced their imminent designation -- but then the administration did not designate them, reportedly at the direction of the President. This raises obvious questions about the provision of Russian technology or support to Syria in violation of Section 234 of the law.
The senators also asked the agency watchdogs to provide information on why CAATSA has not been implemented, as well as if there are any obstacles preventing officials from implementing the measures.
The 2017 legislation allows President Trump to postpone imposing sanctions on people or entities if he determines they are largely scaling back their transactions with Russia's defense or intelligence sectors, as long as he notifies the appropriate congressional committees every 180 days that the administration is seeing such progress.
Menendez, Warner, Brown Request Multiagency Review on Russia Sanctions Implementation (press release)
Senate Dems call for probe into why Trump has not issued Russia sanctions (The Hill)