Congress Sends Russian Sanctions to Trump’s Desk

The Senate “delivered Donald Trump the first big bipartisan rebuke of his presidency, giving final approval to a package of sanctions on Russia, Iran, and North Korea that constrains his bid to defrost relations with Moscow,” Politico reports.

“The Senate voted 98-2 to approve the sanctions bill that cleared the House earlier this week… The only no votes on the bill were Kentucky Republican Rand Paul and Vermont independent Bernie Sanders.”

In response, the Washington Post reports that Russia announced “it would seize U.S. diplomatic properties and demand that the State Department reduce its staff in Russia, a tit-for-tat punishment that the Russian Foreign Ministry said was spurred by a financial sanctions bill now awaiting a signature from President Trump.”