Republican Senator Thom Tillis said Donald Trump’s Russian diesel agreement could violate US law and undermine pressure on Moscow over the Ukraine war. He raised the objection on NBC’s Meet the Press and said he was preparing a statement with Democrat Jeanne Shaheen. The dispute concerns the president’s announced easing of restrictions to secure fuel supplies.
Republican US Senator Thom Tillis objected on Sunday to Donald Trump’s agreement to obtain diesel from Russia. Tillis, on NBC’s Meet the Press, argued the decision ran against the purpose of sanctions legislation Congress had passed. Trump announced the supplies on Friday as a way to bring down fuel prices. Tillis said there could be a legitimate case that the president was not following the law; no court ruling was announced.[1], [2]
The interviewer recalled the Senate’s unanimous approval of restrictions on Russian oil imports. Tillis said Russia was the aggressor in Ukraine and should withdraw from occupied territory to end the war. He warned that easing pressure would send Moscow the wrong signal. He was preparing a joint statement with Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen, bringing an opposition-party senator into his response to the agreement.[1]
Asked what senators could do, Tillis pointed to military funding and year-end budget decisions. He said the president would want his support on other matters and that fellow Republicans were concerned.[1]
He also warned that the agreement could endanger American personnel and argued that Putin could not be trusted. Those were Tillis’s security assessments. During the interview he announced neither a new enacted import ban nor a completed budget sanction.[1]
