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Surprise! Donald Trump Ready to Remove Russian Sanctions
Donald Trump made clear in a Wall Street Journal interview that he is willing to get rid of recently imposed sanctions against Moscow. The Obama Administration imposed new sanctions and expelled 35 Russian diplomats, in retaliation for Russia’s cyberattacks during the presidential election campaign. The new sanctions President Obama announced a few weeks ago are in addition to the already significant sanctions that the United States and Europe have imposed on Russia for their illegal annex of parts of Ukraine.
But Donald Trump says he is ready to remove the sanctions on Russia. Trump told the Wall Street Journal that the sanctions will stay in place “at least for a period of time.” But Trump quickly noted that things could change. “If you get along and if Russia is really helping us, why would anybody have sanctions if somebody’s doing some really great things?” Trump said.
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The announcement by Trump that he is ready to remove sanctions comes after a week where Donald Trump’s connections to Russia received increased scrutiny.
First, it was learned this week that the U.S. intelligence community informed Donald Trump and President Obama of potentially compromising information that Russian holds about Trump.
Second, we learned that Donald Trump’s team may have had ongoing communications with Russia during the presidential campaign and that a bipartisan Senate intelligence committee announced it will be investigating the potential Trump-Russia connection.
And third, the revelation that on the same day that the Obama Administration announced the new sanctions on Russia Trump’s incoming national security advisor Michael Flynn had 5 phone calls with Russia’s Ambassador.
The Trump transition team had initially denied the phone call had taken place on Dec. 29, as reported by the Washington Post’s David Ignatius, saying it had actually been on Dec. 28, the day before the latest sanctions.
Trump also acknowledged that Vladimir Putin has expressed interest in meeting with him after he takes office, and Trump said “that’s absolutely fine with me.”
Trump Continues to Cause Waves in International Community
In the same interview with the Wall Street Journal, Trump suggested that he was open to scrapping the “One China” policy, in which the U.S. recognizes the island nation of Taiwan as a part of “one China.”
“Everything is under negotiation, including One China,” Trump added. Apparently, he’s unaware that his “negotiations” are causing instability around the world.
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