Trump Admin Continued Push For Dropping Russian Sanctions Even After Flynn’s Departure
New Report Confirms Trump Is Still Trying To Remove Russian Sanctions.
According to a new report, the Trump administration’s efforts to remove sanctions on Russia did not end when Michael Flynn was fired.
As The Daily Beast notes, “The White House explored unilaterally easing sanctions on Russia’s oil industry as recently as late March, arguing that decreased Russian oil production could harm the American economy, according to former U.S. officials.”
The Trump administration tried to claim that somehow that the sanction would hurt the U.S. consumers. However, State Department employees were able to successfully argue that removing sanctions would actual hurt the U.S. energy sector.
Trump and team also had to be reminded that the Russians had not done anything to deserve the sanctions relief. “Russia continues to occupy Ukraine including Crimea—conditions that led to the sanctions have not changed,” one official wrote in an email to the White House.
Michael Flynn is at the center of an FBI investigation into whether Trump’s campaign worked with the Russians in interfering in the 2016 election on Trump’s behalf.
Last week, Yahoo News reported that Trump tried to remove Russian sanctions almost immediately upon entering office. That report noted that Flynn’s firing largely ended the Trump administration’s attempt to remove sanctions.
However, the new report by The Daily Beast indicates that Trump is not yet done trying to give the Russians sanctions relief.
You can read the full report here.
