Sen. Richard Blumenthal Wednesday made a call to get a stalled sanctions bill against Russia moving again, and questioned why President Donald Trump's administration has continued to resist it.
"That bill, having been passed overwhelmingly by the United States Senate by 98-2, stalled in the House because, largely, the Trump administration has resisted it," the New York Democrat told MSNBC's "Morning Joe" program.
"This bill would provide for much stronger sanctions against the energy and financial sectors."
Blumenthal said the excuse is that the sanctions would be a "revenue raising measure," but that is "not really the reason."
"The mystery is, why hasn't the Trump administration taken a forceful stand in supporting this measure, this sanctions bill?" Blumenthal said.
Blumenthal insisted that there is no question the bill has support in the House, and would be passed if the Trump administration would give it the green light.
"I think it has to do possibly with financial and business dealings, as well as the possibility that he is simply resisting the meddling investigation conducted now by the special counsel," Blumenthal said.
Meanwhile, Blumenthal said he thinks "there are no good answers" for responding to North Korea's growing aggressions, including Tuesday's test launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile, but there are "some very good answers" for dealing with Russia.
"Make them pay a price in traditional sanctions," said Blumenthal. "There should be national unity, [and] that demands the president really support this sanctions bill and get it through right away."
Show host Joe Scarborough replied: "There is no way that the Senate or the House or anybody who actually gives a damn about a relationship with Russia and our standing in the world can look at how obsequious [Trump has] been toward Vladimir Putin over the past 24 months and not say there has to be something there," adding that if Trump is not going to uphold international norms, the House and Senate will have to.
"On the issue of trust, is he putting our national interests first or his ego or his financial and business dealings?" said Blumenthal. "That is one reason why 200 of us have sued the president of the United States, because the question is whether he's putting the national interests ahead of his financial dealings.
"Which he has failed to disclose, whether it's the Chinese trademarks or the payments by the Saudis of a quarter million dollars for his properties."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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