Trump Clashes With Pelosi Over “Clearly Unconstitutional” Russian Sanctions

Congress is dead set against making America great again, and they prove it time after time. Most recently, they overwhelmingly passed a bill to place sanctions on Russia and hamstring the President into complying with them against his better judgment. Although Trump signed the bill into law, he expressed his dismay through a signing statement.

“While I favor tough measures to punish and deter aggressive and destabilizing behavior by Iran, North Korea, and Russia, this legislation is significantly flawed,” Trump said in the statement. “In its haste to pass this legislation, the Congress included a number of clearly unconstitutional provisions.”

President Trump indicates that he will comply by the sanctions despite his objections, but House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is not convinced. She thinks Trump’s reticence over signing the sanctions into law is proof positive of her Russian conspiracy fears.

“President Trump’s signing statement raises serious questions about whether his administration intends to follow the law, or whether he will continue to enable and reward Vladimir Putin’s aggression,” Pelosi said. “The Republican Congress must not permit the Trump White House to wriggle out of its duty to impose these sanctions for Russia’s brazen assault on our democracy.”

While Russia may be guilty of human rights violations at home and abroad, that would not make them much different than other countries frequently allied with America such as Saudi Arabia and Turkey. Russia is working in Syria to crush ISIS, but apparently from Pelosi’s point of view, working with Russia on those shared goals makes Trump guilty of enabling Putin’s aggression.

Pelosi’s mindset is the dominant one amongst both parties in Congress. The only legislators who voted against the sanctions in the House were Reps. Thomas Massie (R-KY), Jimmy Duncan (R-TN) and Justin Amash (R-MI), and then Sens. Rand Paul (R-KY) and Bernie Sanders (I-VT) voted ‘no’ in the Senate. With so few of our Congressmen and Senators willing to allow Trump to conduct diplomacy as he sees fit, deescalating tensions throughout the world will remain a challenge for the president.