Leading Senate Republicans who have publicly feuded with President Donald Trump said Wednesday they will apply more pressure on the White House to implement congressionally mandated sanctions on Russia.
Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker, who has become Trump’s most outspoken Republican critic in Congress, said he would “check into” the administration’s progress on the sanctions package.
“I will find out in the next 24 hours,” the Tennessee Republican told CNN. “I’m going to get on the phone with someone and find out.”
Arizona Sen. John McCain, another Trump antagonist in the GOP, backed up Corker’s comments, accusing the White House of acting “as if they are unilateral” on sanctions policy.
“We have to do what we need to assert our role,” McCain told CNN.
Lawmakers approved a bill over the summer that required the Trump administration to impose new sanctions on people involved with Russia’s cyber efforts to meddle in the U.S. political process. Facing veto-proof majorities in Congress, Trump signed the bill despite his objections that the mandatory sanctions would tie his hands in the conduct of Russia policy.
The sanctions bill set a deadline of Oct. 1 for administration officials to “specify the persons that are part of, or operate for or on behalf of, the defense and intelligence sectors of the Government of the Russian Federation.” Three weeks after the deadline passed, the White House has yet to say when the assessment will be completed, only that an announcement will be coming soon.
The administration “remains committed to holding Russia accountable — and has on a variety of fronts,” White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders told reporters Wednesday.Administration officials have reportedly expressed private frustration with the State Department and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who last month was tasked with formulating a new sanctions plan.
The agency was “working to try to complete that process,” State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert said Tuesday.
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