Republicans seek to block Trump's Putin diesel deal as legal questions grow

Filed 1h ago · Via Newsweek · The Buffoon Desk

THIS STORY IS SCORED

Bushwick Tarantella

Kevin MacLeod · incompetech.com · CC BY 4.0

Photo: The White House · Public domain · via Wikimedia Commons

President Trump announced a deal in which Vladimir Putin would supply millions of tons of diesel to global markets, and the Treasury Department followed with a temporary license letting Russian-origin diesel flow, just weeks after Congress passed new sanctions legislation targeting Moscow over Ukraine.

Republican lawmakers including Senator Thom Tillis, Representative Brian Fitzpatrick, Representative Don Bacon and Representative Michael McCaul have pushed back, with Tillis saying on NBC that he believes Trump may be violating a 2022 law barring Russian oil imports until Moscow withdraws from Ukraine. Fitzpatrick plans a discharge-petition bill called the Ronald Reagan Peace Through Strength Act to block Russian oil purchases.

Six senators, three Republicans and three Democrats, issued a joint statement Sunday calling on the administration to immediately reverse course, arguing the U.S. should not hand Putin a financial lifeline. The White House, asked for comment, referred Newsweek back to Trump's own public remarks on the matter.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.

✒ FROM THE EDITORIAL DESK

When the man who signed the law is the first one caught climbing over it, you start to wonder whether anybody read the thing before the pen came out. Asking the White House for an explanation and getting pointed back to the president's own remarks is about as useful as asking a dog who ate the pie. Six senators from both sides agree on something, which these days ought to be a hint.

Source: Read the original at Newsweek → Scored: Bushwick Tarantella · Kevin MacLeod · CC BY 4.0