RUSSIA/SANCTIONS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump has signed an executive order imposing sanctions on Russia for its use of chemical weapons in the 2018 attack on the Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter, according to two U.S. officials. The Trump administration imposed a round of sanctions last year, as required by a 1991 law. The same law requires the president to impose a second round of sanctions if he cannot determine that the state in question has stopped using chemical weapons — and U.S. intelligence agencies were unable to make that determination with regard to Russia, which continues to deny responsibility for the attack on the Skripals. But the president, who has been loath to antagonize Russian President Vladimir Putin, dragged his feet on imposing the second round of sanctions. En route to a rally in Cincinnati on Thursday [8-1-19], he continued to minimize the threat of Russian interference in U.S. elections.”
–Eliana Johnson, “Trump to sanction Russia over chemical weapons use,” Politico, August 1, 2019 9:17 pm