Three Democratic senators are asking the Trump Administration to put sanctions on Russia after reports claim the Kremlin is working to interfere in the 2020 election.
In their letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Secretary of the Treasury Steve Mnuchin, Sens. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Bob Menendez (D-NY) and Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) write, “We urge you to immediately and forcefully impose sanctions on the government of the Russian federation.” They also asked for sanctions on Russian actors and anybody providing financial support to the election meddling efforts.
They added later, “We urge you to immediately draw upon the reported conclusions of the Intelligence Community to identify and target for sanctions all those determined to be responsible for ongoing election interference, including President Putin … Doing anything less would be an abdication of your responsibility to protect and defend the U.S. from this serious threat to our national security and to the integrity of our election process.”
NEW: Three senior Democratic senators have written to Treasury Sec. Mnuchin & Sec. of State Pompeo urging them "to immediately and forcefully" hit Russia with sanctions in response to reports that the intel community told Congress that Russia is interfering in the 2020 elections. pic.twitter.com/LQ1xy1AQe4
— Emma Loop (@LoopEmma) February 24, 2020
The intelligence community has recently warned Congress that the Russians are interfering in the 2020 election in order to get Trump re-elected. Trump was reportedly upset by the briefing because some of his political foes like Congressman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) were present during the briefing. And he has rejected the notion that the Russians are working to get him re-elected.
The intelligence community also believes that the Russians are working to boost the campaign of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), according to reporting from The Washington Post.
Republicans in the Senate have repeatedly blocked bills aimed at preventing election meddling, which were introduced after the intelligence community found that the Russians interfered with the 2016 election. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has refused to push forward with election meddling bills and last December, Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) blocked an election meddling bill in the Senate and suggested it was “anti-Trump.”
