RUSSIA INVESTIGATION/SANCTIONS/SENATE/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Bipartisan momentum is building in the Senate to crack down on Russia, even as President Donald Trump prepares to bring Vladimir Putin to Washington. It’s a remarkable split-screen moment, with lawmakers pressing not only for new penalties against the Kremlin but for Trump to use more of the sanctions power Congress overwhelmingly approved one year ago. The effort is still something of a long shot — Trump himself fumed over the sanctions measure he signed into law and might resist — but the possibility of a follow-up Russia sanctions package remains very much alive despite the intense partisan pressure ahead of November’s midterms. That’s largely because of Trump’s jaw-dropping performance in Helsinki next to the Russian president, which will be a major focus of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday [7-25-18]…Sanctioning the 12 Russian military intelligence officers would amount to a tectonic shift for Trump, who has repeatedly slammed Mueller’s probe as a ‘witch hunt’ and cast doubt on the veracity of what U.S. intelligence officials describe as Moscow’s ongoing effort to disrupt the midterms. But that’s not stopping some Republicans from entertaining the prospect of new bipartisan action against Putin’s government following Trump’s controversial one-on-one with the Russian president.”
-Elana Schor, “Senate eyes hitting Russia in slap to Trump,” Politico, July 25, 2018 5:06 am