WASHINGTON (AP) — The House speaker stood before Donald Trump during his first term in the White House and pointed the finger declaring that with this president, “all roads lead to Putin”.
The grim assessment made years ago Nancy Pelosi echoed again after Trump’s surprise announcement last week that he made an agreement with the Russian president Vladimir Putin import tons of Russian diesel into the United States in order to facilitate exorbitant prices at the pump for Americans before the midterm elections.
Trump’s diesel agreement with Putin has been criticized by both Republicans and Democrats as fueling Russia’s tensions. war against Ukraineviolating existing US laws and bringing the US closer to Russia. This joins a growing list of cases where the president has on Putin’s sideoften at the expense of Ukraine – and America’s own reputation.
“The harm to Ukrainians is real,” William Taylor, a former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine and now a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, said Monday.
“And the cost to us, the United States, is high. »
It is not at all certain that the Trump-Putin deal will increase supply and that the president is seeking to lower prices. Energy experts said the flow of Russian diesel prices are unlikely to fall in the United States, which intensified largely due to disruptions due to American war against Iran. But the deal underscores a message at home and abroad that Trump is an unreliable ally as Ukraine confronts Russia.
A bipartisan group of six senators This weekend, he urged Trump to reverse course, saying the United States “should not provide Putin with a financial lifeline.” Trump, however, stuck to his deal with Putin and took it, accuse the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky for high diesel costs in the United States and saying he should pull out – something the Ukrainian leader has no plans to do.
“I like anything that would help our farmers, our ranchers,” Trump said Monday outside the White House.
Asked about Republican criticism of the Russia deal, Trump said they “can’t really be serious.”
Trump also insisted that an energy ceasefire was in place for Ukraine and Russia, although Zelensky said Moscow continued to strike his country’s energy sites.
A AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research A poll released October 1 reveals that Americans disapprove of Trump’s handling of the war in Iran and blame him for rising prices.
Congress voted to stop Russian imports, but Trump has other plans
Congress quickly approved legislation at the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in spring 2022 to prohibit importation Russian energy products, which are widely seen as the financial fuel for Putin’s military assault on Ukraine.
The bill passed the House with an overwhelming majority of 414-17 and the Senate without a single senator opposing it. The law states that the president can seek to lift the ban if an agreement has been reached to withdraw Russian troops from Ukraine and cease military activities. Such a proposal would have to be considered by Congress and be “accepted by the free and independent government of Ukraine.”
“Trump is directly violating this law,” Rep. Lloyd Doggett, Democrat of Texas, the bill’s lead sponsor, said Monday.
He said Trump is “illegally rewarding his friend Putin while once again accusing Zelensky of failing to capitulate to Putin.”
Most recently, Congress last month approved a broad Russian sanctions billnamed for the late Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, which would impose tariffs on countries that continue to import Russian oil. Asset signed the bill.
Most of the law’s provisions take effect Oct. 18, the end of the administration’s 30-day review period. But such action now appears to be in question since the diesel deal between Trump and Putin will allow the delivery of Russian energy.
In a letter to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent And Secretary of State Marco Rubioleaders of both parties in the Senate said last week that most urgent priority because the United States must tackle the “ghost fleet” of tankers that Moscow uses to transport oil and circumvent American sanctions.
But that was before Trump announced his deal with Putin, which he said would free up hundreds of tons of diesel.
Treasury did not immediately respond Monday to a request for comment.
Republican Rep. Ashley Hinson, who faces a competitive race for U.S. Senate against Democrat Josh Turek in Iowa, where $6-a-gallon diesel prices have become a problem, said: “It makes me a little nervous every time we talk about easing a sanction on Russia. »
The position of Trump, Russia and Pelosi
Nearly seven years ago this week, Pelosi stood before Trump and a roomful of U.S. officials at a heated meeting at the White House and launched her accusations, suggesting the president’s policies favored Putin.
The powerful House speaker led Trump’s first corruption impeachment over his administration’s decision to withhold congressionally approved aid to Ukraine in 2019 as that country faced Russian aggression on its border. Trump was later acquitted by the Senate.
Since Trump’s return to the White House, he has swing between pressuring Zelensky to make concessions and showing frustration with Putin’s tough stance on the war. Trump often complains that he thinks his good relations with his Russian counterpart would have made it easier to end the war.
A year ago, Trump reversed his long-standing position that Ukraine should cede its land and suggested it could regain all the territory it had lost to Russia – only to then call on kyiv and Moscow to “stop where they are” and end the war.
In July, Trump praised Zelensky and Ukraine for its wartime resilience. But in September, Trump expressed frustration with strikes against Russian energy infrastructure.
Trump insisted Monday that the sides had agreed to a ceasefire on energy systems. “They agreed,” Trump said. “Because I said, ‘You agree.'”
Asked about the Russian attacks, Trump said he would have to take a look, “because there have been violations on both sides.”
___
Associated Press writers Collin Binkley and Josh Boak, and Steven Sloan in Dyersville, Iowa, contributed to this report.
Gn usa
