Sen. Chris Coons on Thursday praised the Trump administration for slapping tougher sanctions on Russia, calling it "a positive, important step" after concluding that Moscow had meddled in the 2016 election.
"There is no question that Russia attacked our election in 2016 and will continue to launch cyberattacks against the United States unless they are deterred," Coons, the Delaware Democrat who sits on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said in a statement.
"I applaud the Trump Administration for identifying Russia’s hostile actions and punishing them for it," he said. "This is a positive, important step."
The White House accused the Kremlin of hacking the U.S. energy grid and other key infrastructure and imposed sanctions on numerous Russian officials for the election meddling, representing the strongest moves to date against Russia by the administration.
Coons, in his second term, also called for "a comprehensive strategy to push back against all forms of Russian aggression in the near future."