Flashback: Republicans Helped Trump Sell Out To Putin

Today, as President Biden meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin, we wanted to remind you of how Donald Trump consistently kowtowed to Russia — and congressional Republicans consistently gave him a pass.

Senate Republicans, including Mitch McConnell, allowed Trump to lift sanctions on key Putin allies.

Reuters: “In a victory for President Donald Trump, the U.S. Senate on Wednesday rejected legislation to keep sanctions on companies linked to Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, including aluminum firm Rusal.”

Washington Post: “Republican senators Wednesday successfully defended the Trump administration’s plan to lift sanctions on companies controlled by a Vladimir Putin ally.”

And how can we forget how Republicans not only encouraged Russian disinformation campaigns, but blocked attempts to strengthen election security.

MSNBC: “What we didn’t know at the time was that the FBI specifically alerted Johnson that he was ‘a target of Russian disinformation,’ but he questioned the value of the briefing. In other words, the chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee was targeted by the Kremlin, while the senator was seeking dirt on the future American president, and when the FBI warned him directly about what was transpiring, Ron Johnson thought the smart thing to do would be to blow off the FBI’s concerns.”

Washington Post: “As Congress returns this week, Mitch McConnell remains the one-man roadblock for Democrats’ election security bills. He’s still refusing to allow a vote, even as Democrats deride him as ‘Moscow Mitch’ and accuse him of inviting Russia to interfere on Republicans’ behalf in the 2020 election.”

While Trump and Republicans gave Putin a pass, the Biden administration has already stood up to him and taken steps to hold Russia accountable.

New York Times“Biden Administration to Impose Tough Sanctions on Russia”

CNBC: “The Biden administration imposed a raft of new sanctions against Moscow on Thursday over alleged interference in the 2020 election, a colossal cyberattack against U.S. government and corporate networks, illegal annexation and occupation of Crimea, and human rights abuses.”

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