House Republicans break ranks with Trump administration and leadership to oppose Treasury plan to lift Russia sanctions
Strange how Trump’s says he’s never worked for Russia yet tRUmp continues to help them. Trump is trying to remove the very sanctions put in place to punish Russians for interfering in the 2016 elections. One of the 24 Russians who had their assets frozen was Oleg Deripaska. And of the 12 companies sanctioned, Deripaska owns or controls 7 of them!
The same sanctions Paul Manafort was working up until 2018 with GRU officer Konstantin Kilimnik to remove on behave of Oleg Deripaska.
There are no coincidences when it comes to tRUmp “Individual-1″ and Russia.
In a rebuke to the Trump administration, 136 Republicans joined House Democrats Thursday to oppose a Treasury Department plan to lift sanctions against companies controlled by an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The overwhelming 362 to 53 vote will not prevent the Trump administration from easing sanctions on three companies connected to Oleg Deripaska, a Russian oligarch with ties to former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, as Senate Republicans narrowly blocked a similar measure on Wednesday.
Mitch, Republican House LEADERS voted for America!
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and GOP Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) both broke with Trump to join Democrats to support the resolution, along with the rest of their leadership team – a particularly awkward rebellion for the White House and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky).
Mitch ’Shutdown’ McConnell VOTED for RUSSIA!
From the NYTimes on the US Senate vote.
Eleven Republicans joined Democrats in a vote to enforce sanctions against the corporate empire of an influential ally of President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, but the effort fell three votes short of the 60-vote threshold required to advance the measure. The vote was 57-42, with one Democratic senator not voting.
The Republican senators who voted with Democrats were John Boozman of Arkansas; Susan Collins of Maine; Tom Cotton of Arkansas; Steve Daines of Montana; Cory Gardner of Colorado; Josh Hawley of Missouri; John Kennedy of Louisiana; Martha McSally of Arizona; Jerry Moran of Kansas; Marco Rubio of Florida; and Ben Sasse of Nebraska.
David Vitter is bought and paid for by Deripaska
#PutinRepublican #MuellerIsComingForYou
Former senator David Vitter (R-La.) has also been lobbying on behalf of the Deripaska-controlled En+ Group, a holding company that controls the aluminum producer Rusal.
Vitter was seen last week in Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-Ky.) office waiting for a meeting, just days before the measure objecting to lifting the sanctions came to the floor.
The lobbying firm of which Vitter is co-chairman, Mercury Public Affairs, has received more than $650,000 since May 2018 from En+ Group’s chairman to press for sanctions relief, the Center for Responsive Politics reported Thursday, citing documents filed with the Justice Department. A Mercury spokesman declined to comment.
Sanctions on Putin’s favorite Oligarch Oleg Deripaska works
Washington’s sanctions on Rusal and En+ Group clobbered Deripaska financially, sinking the market value of his publicly traded companies. Rusal shares have rebounded somewhat on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange since Treasury announced it would lift the sanctions, rising about 18 percent in a boost for Deripaska. But the stock is still down about 65 percent from its pre-sanction levels.
Or more simply, Russians are being sanctioned for Interfering in the 2016 Elections #PutinElectedTrump
The U.S. sanctioned Deripaska and his companies in April 2018, among a group of Russian elites the U.S. said had furthered “the Kremlin’s global malign activities, including its attempts to subvert Western democracy.”
12 companies sanctioned: Oleg owns or controls 7
B-Finance Ltd.
Basic Element Limited
EN+ Group
EuroSibEnergo
United Company RUSAL PLC
Russian Machines
GAZ Group