Prominent Republican U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham says Russia did interfere in the recent U.S. presidential election and can expect hard-hitting sanctions.
Graham said Wednesday that in 2017, the U.S. Congress will investigate Russia’s involvement in the November 8 election that propelled businessman Donald Trump to power. “I expect there will be bipartisan sanctions coming that will hard Russia hard, particularly [President Vladimir] Putin as an individual,” Graham said, without elaborating.
WATCH: Sen. Graham on Bipartisan Sanctions Against Russia
“It is now time for Russia to understand enough is enough,” Graham said. Russia has denied allegations that President Putin was personally involved in hacking that cost Trump’s opponent, Democrat and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the election.
The Washington Post reported Tuesday that the Obama administration could announce as soon as this week measures to punish Russia for election interference. U.S. officials told the newspaper the measures could include economic sanctions and diplomatic censure.
Trump has consistently maintained that last month’s election was free of any Russian meddling. Questions are still unanswered about how Russian hackers obtained emails from Clinton’s campaign and published them via WikiLeaks in the closing stretch of the campaign, in an apparent attempt to influence the election in Trump’s favor.
Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein, vice chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, told VOA, “It’s pretty clear that Russia was involved in this past election and collected data from both sides, but released data for one side only in an effort to skew the election.” U.S. President Barack Obama has ordered the intelligence community to conduct a full review of the allegations.
Latvian President Raimonds Vejonis, right, looks at US Sen. John McCain centre left, during a press conference, Wednesday, Dec. 28, 2016 in Riga, Latvia, while Lindsey Graham, and Amy Klobuchar stand in the background.
Senator Graham made his comments in Riga, Latvia as part of a wider tour of Russia’s Baltic neighbors. Fellow Republican Senator John McCain is also on the trip, as is Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar. Their trip comes amid questions as to what NATO course Trump will chart when he takes office as the 45th U.S. president.
McCain, who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee, told reporters that despite unusual times ahead, “We will continue to have strong support for NATO in the Congress of the United States and in the United States Senate,” adding, “We believe the three of us and most of our colleagues in the United States Senate that Vladimir Putin and Russian behavior is unacceptable — the latest being apparent attempts on the part of the Russians to affect the outcome of the recent election in the United States.”
0 comments: