White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said Tuesday that the Trump administration has been “very hard” on Russia.
“Look, I think we’ve been very hard on Russia from the beginning,” Sanders said at the daily White House press briefing.
“There have been sanctions, we’ve increased energy exportation from this country, and we’ve done things to put pressure on Russia, asking them to engage in a bigger and greater way on some of the common enemies we face,” she said.
President Trump signed a Russia sanctions bill in August, though he called it “seriously flawed” and issued a signing statement saying it only “purports” to impose certain rules the president can ignore.
Sanders was responding to a request for comment on national security adviser H.R. McMaster’s remarks earlier in the day accusing Russia of waging “campaigns of subversion” against the U.S. and its allies.
Trump has expressed doubt about the U.S. intelligence community’s assessment that Russia hacked Democratic Party emails last year and made them public in a bid to help his candidacy. He sometimes refers to Russia’s alleged role in the election as “a hoax.”
Sanders said she feels “confident” in McMaster’s ability to accurately reflect Trump’s views.
“Gen. McMaster certainly is someone who understands and knows the president’s feelings and our relationships with foreign partners and something we certainly feel confident about him talking about,” she said.
