Speaking with Bloomberg's Kevin Cirilli, Crapo, R-Idaho, touted the bipartisan support for the legislation that would "codify" existing sanctions and "authorize and in some cases require additional sanctions." He also said the legislation would set up a sanctions process by which the president works with Congress.
Yet these "very strong tools" for sanctioning Russia, part of a bipartisan Iran sanctions bill, have not received a green light from the White House, Crapo said.
When asked about it, he said, "I have not checked with them to see." A spokeswoman for Crapo later told the Washington Examiner that the senator did not necessarily say that the White House was not involved in the process of putting together the legislation, but that he didn't know if the White House was supportive of the final product.
The legislation would set up a congressional review process if President Trump tried to ease sanctions on Russia. The sanctions come as Trump continues to fight any suggestion that his campaign might have worked with Russian officials. A federal and a number of congressional probes are looking into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.
Though Crapo said "I assume" the Trump administration would be on board with the sanctions, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson warned in testimony on Tuesday that stronger sanctions against Russia could hinder "the flexibility" to work toward thawing relations between the U.S. and Russia. (from)
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