President-elect Trump’s senior adviser Kellyanne Conway said on Thursday while the new sanctions the U.S. issued against Russia are “largely symbolic,” they are harsher than those that were imposed during the Cold War.
“I’ve been reading all the news reports about these retaliations, these sanctions put forward by President Obama and his administration,” Conway said on CNN’s “Out Front.” “Some of them seem largely symbolic. The GRU (Russia’s foreign intelligence service) doesn’t really travel here — doesn’t keep its assets here. There’s no indication these allies will follow suit.”
Conway said Obama making a move to expel 35 Russian diplomats was harsher than any previous presidents’ have treated Russia, even if it was a symbolic manuever meant “box in Trump.”
“That would be very unfortunate if that were the motivating factor here, politics … That is not the way that peaceful exchanges of the administrations work in this democracy,” Conway added.
The former Trump campaign manager would not reveal whether Trump plans to reverse Obama’s actions. Earlier on Thursday night, Trump issued a statement saying, “It’s time for our country to move on to bigger and better things.”
