Russia will target US mid-term elections, says CIA director
The Trump administration on Monday evening stopped short of imposing fresh sanctions on Russia as punishment for its election meddling, providing further ammunition for critics who say the White House colluded with the Kremlin.
The announcement came soon after the director of the CIA warned that Russia would interfere in this year’s mid-term elections.
Last year
Democrats and Republicans passed a bill authorising the administration to use sanctions to both punish Moscow and to prevent future meddling.
Congress set a January 29 deadline to introduce new measures or explain why it had not done so.
On Monday evening Heather Nauert, State Department spokeswoman, indicated that the mere threat of sanctions had been sufficient and no further action was needed.
"Today, we have informed Congress that this legislation and its implementation are deterring Russian defence sales," she said.
"Since the enactment of the ... legislation, we estimate that foreign governments have abandoned planned or announced purchases of several billion dollars in Russian defence acquisitions."
The statement sparked immediate anger that Mr Trump was either hiding something or failing to take the threat seriously.
Mr Trump has
repeatedly played down allegations – backed by his own intelligence agencies – that Russia interfered in the last election to sway the result in his favour.
The deadline was seen as a key test of his willingness to take firm action at a time when his White House and staff remain under intense scrutiny amid allegations that they were aware of Russia’s campaign.
On the same day,
Andrew McCabe stepped down as deputy director of the FBI, as Mr Trump and other Republicans keep up pressure on federal agencies they believe are biased against them.
And Republicans on the House intelligence committee voted to release a classified memo they wrote alleging that the FBI and the Justice Department used government surveillance during the investigation into Russian interference.
Taken together, Mr Trump’s critics said the developments amounted to a serious threat to democracy.
Evan McMullin, who ran as an independent in the 2016 presidential election, was among those who criticised the failure to introduce fresh sanctions.
