Trump signs order to enable sanctions for U.S. election meddling

[webfact]

Trump signs order to enable sanctions for U.S. election meddling

By Jeff Mason and Steve Holland

 

U.S. President Donald Trump holds an Oval Office meeting on preparations for hurricane Florence at the White House in Washington, U.S., September 11, 2018. REUTERS/Leah Millis

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Under fire over his handling of Russian election meddling, U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday meant to strengthen election security by slapping sanctions on foreign countries or people who try to interfere in the U.S. political process.

 

The order, coming only eight weeks before congressional elections on Nov. 6, drew immediate criticism from both Republican and Democratic lawmakers as too little, too late.

 

Trump signed the order behind closed doors with no reporters present, a rare departure from what has been his standard practice.

Sanctions could include freezing assets, restricting foreign exchange transactions, limiting access to U.S. financial institutions, and prohibiting U.S. citizens from investing in companies involved, national security adviser John Bolton told reporters.

 

Bolton said sanctions could be imposed during or after an election, based on the evidence gathered.

 

U.S. intelligence agencies concluded that entities backed by the Kremlin sought to boost Republican Trump's chances of winning the White House in the 2016 election against his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton. But Trump in July publicly accepted Russian President Vladimir Putin's denials at a joint press conference after they met for a summit in Helsinki.

 

Special Counsel Robert Mueller and congressional panels are investigating Russian interference, which Moscow denies. Mueller is also looking into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russian officials. Trump dismisses the investigations as a political witch hunt.

 

Lawmakers said the executive order, which would give the president decision-making power on imposing sanctions, was insufficient.

 

"Today's announcement by the administration recognises the threat, but does not go far enough to address it," said Republican Senator Marco Rubio and Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen in a joint statement, advocating legislation.

 

The order represents an effort by the administration to look tough on election security before the voting in November, which will determine whether Trump's Republicans maintain their majorities in the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate.

 

Bolton said criticism of the president's response to the issue, which has included his controversial comments in Helsinki and numerous tweets, played "zero" role in driving the issuance of the executive order.

 

"The president has said repeatedly that he is determined that there not be foreign interference in our political process," Bolton said on a conference call. "I think his actions speak for themselves."

 

The order would direct intelligence agencies to assess whether any people or entities interfered. The information would be provided to the Justice and Homeland Security departments, and then based on their assessment of the validity and impact, trigger automatic sanctions, U.S. Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats said.

 

Intelligence agencies would have 45 days to make an assessment. Then the two departments would have 45 days to determine whether action is required, Coats told reporters.

 

The State and Treasury departments would decide on additional sanctions to recommend and impose.

 

Bolton said the order was necessary to ensure a formal process and authorization for sanctions. He said he was in talks with lawmakers about possible legislation.

 

Senator Mark Warner, a Democrat who is vice chairman of the intelligence committee, said, "Unfortunately, President Trump demonstrated in Helsinki and elsewhere that he simply cannot be counted upon to stand up to Putin when it matters."

 

"While the administration has yet to share the full text, an executive order that inevitably leaves the president broad discretion to decide whether to impose tough sanctions against those who attack our democracy is insufficient," Warner said.

 

DNI Coats said the measure was being put in place as part of government efforts to report on any suspicious activity between now and November's elections and to do a full assessment after the election that would trigger sanctions if necessary.

 

Coats said the United States had seen signs of election meddling from Russia and China, and potential capabilities for such meddling from Iran and North Korea.

 

"It's more than Russia here that we're looking at," he said.

 

U.S. lawmakers have introduced various pieces of Russia-related legislation urging punishments for election meddling.

 

Congress passed a Russia sanctions bill more than a year ago. Some lawmakers have chafed at what they saw as the administration's reluctance to implement it.

 

Trump signed the bill into law only after Congress passed it with huge majorities. Acting on the law, the Treasury Department has imposed sanctions against 24 Russians, striking at allies of Putin.

 

(Reporting by Jeff Mason and Steve Holland; Additional reporting by Christopher Bing and Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Kevin Drawbaugh and Grant McCool)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-09-13

 

[johnnybangkok]

Or in other words; - Donald Trump was today dragged kicking and screaming to sign an executive order against his mate Putin because he was getting too much heat for doing literally nothing about well documented interference.

 

I think that pretty much sums it up.

Edited September 13, 2018 by johnnybangkok

[Tug]

Hey he is only 600 days late after throwing all our intelligence agency’s under the buss after sucking up to Putin I wonder if the specter of the midterms had anything to do with it it’s just laughable after 600 days absolutely unbelievable go crawl under your rock till midterms Donald hang your head traitor 

[PremiumLane]

Will the US sanction themselves for the countless interfering in other countries affairs and elections, including the funding and support for coups that have screwed over countries for decades. 

[zaphod reborn]

Trump is in salvation mode over the midterms.  He's been told to tone down his twitter nonsense, try to put lipstick on that pig of a N. Korean "agreement" from Singapore, and hold off on firing Sessions until after the midterms.  If somehow the GOP retains control over both houses, he will be unchecked and uncontrollable.

[JestSetter]

What is most troubling with this is that there is NO measure to over turn the results of the election(s) and schedule a new election. In other words, this is a smoke and mirror order to seduce the "Russian" haters (or whoever will be deemed to be a terrorist state), Trump's base, some Democrats, the US military complex,... 

 

 

Edited September 13, 2018 by JestSetter

[Jingthing]

Will the US sanction themselves for the countless interfering in other countries affairs and elections, including the funding and support for coups that have screwed over countries for decades. 

No. Off topic. Next.

Sent from my Lenovo A7020a48 using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[Jingthing]

What is most troubling with this is that there is NO measure to over turn the results of the election(s) and schedule a new election. In other words, this is a smoke and mirror order to seduce the "Russian" haters (or whoever will be deemed to be a terrorist state), Trump's base, some Democrats, the US military complex,... 
 
 

It won't fool very many people and the hard core base voters are hopeless anyway. Nixon had a similar core until the very end.

Sent from my Lenovo A7020a48 using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[zydeco]

Number one country to suffer for election interference in the US will be . . . Mexico!

[Srikcir]

14 hours ago, webfact said:

"The president has said repeatedly that he is determined that there not be foreign interference in our political process,"

Still a witch hunt.

White House, congressional allies kill bipartisan bill designed to improve election security

The GOP-sponsored Secure Elections Act would allow state election officials to receive classified threat information, require them to audit their federal election results, and promote the use of voting machines that produce a paper record.

“We cannot support legislation with inappropriate mandates or that moves power or funding from the states to Washington for the planning and operation of elections.”

https://thinkprogress.org/election-security-bill-stalled-31b454c4548d/

To the States - you're on your own.

[BestB]

1 hour ago, Jingthing said:

No. Off topic. Next.

Sent from my Lenovo A7020a48 using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app
 

Actually it is not. Why is US putting sanctions on other countries yet does the very same thing to other countries , some even openly 

[bristolboy]

1 minute ago, BestB said:

Actually it is not. Why is US putting sanctions on other countries yet does the very same thing to other countries , some even openly 

Openly?

[Jingthing]

Actually it is not. Why is US putting sanctions on other countries yet does the very same thing to other countries , some even openly 

Stop trying to hijack the thread. It's obnoxious as well as lame.

Sent from my Lenovo A7020a48 using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[Jingthing]

Openly?

Don't encourage him.

Sent from my Lenovo A7020a48 using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[BestB]

2 hours ago, bristolboy said:

Wrong or right it's irrelevant. Regardless of what a nation does or is alleged to have done abroad, it has a duty to protect its own governmental processes.  

One would think increasing its own security and capabilities would be more appropriate than putting sanctions .

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

The Traitor in Chief just can't bring himself to stand up publicly and do anything to punish his Master, Putin.

 

He has to do something, or else look even worse on Russia than he already does heading into the mid-term elections.

 

So he signs an executive order in private (secret with no TV cameras around) that's pretty vague, based on the news report, about just what's likely to result. And part of that is, the implication in the article that Putin-submissive Trump would have the final say on any sanctions to be imposed.

[bendejo]

14 hours ago, johnnybangkok said:

Or in other words; - Donald Trump was today dragged kicking and screaming to sign an executive order against his mate Putin because he was getting too much heat for doing literally nothing about well documented interference.

 

I think that pretty much sums it up.

 

This is the guy who still cries about electoral fraud even after he technically won in 2016, remember that nonsense about hordes of people bussed into New Hampshire?

I don't trust a damned thing he says or does, and I don't believe he has an agenda, except "looking out for number one."  (No, that was not a pee tape reference.) 

Actually he spoke truth yesterday when he said the storm would be very wet, so, you see, he doesn't lie all the time.  He also said Puerto Rico was an island:  who knew?  WHO KNEW??

 

 

[Scott]

Off-topic, troll posts and replies removed.  

[bristolboy]

9 hours ago, BestB said:

One would think increasing its own security and capabilities would be more appropriate than putting sanctions .

 

Well, even if that were the case...

The Latest: Senate rejects new money for election security

The Republican-controlled Senate has defeated a push by Democrats to set aside an additional $250 million for states to upgrade their voting systems to protect against hacking and other cyberattacks.

https://www.foxbusiness.com/features/the-latest-senate-rejects-new-money-for-election-security

[BestB]

53 minutes ago, bristolboy said:

Well, even if that were the case...

The Latest: Senate rejects new money for election security

The Republican-controlled Senate has defeated a push by Democrats to set aside an additional $250 million for states to upgrade their voting systems to protect against hacking and other cyberattacks.

https://www.foxbusiness.com/features/the-latest-senate-rejects-new-money-for-election-security

So?