The White House announced Monday that no new sanctions against Russia were immediately forthcoming, walking back remarks made by the administration’s own United Nations ambassador.
Appearing on CBS Sunday, Nikki Haley said new sanctions would be announced as early as Monday. Asked whether Russia and Iran would face consequences for the Syrian government’s chemical attack earlier this month. Haley responded that new sanctions were “absolutely” coming. “Secretary Mnuchin will be announcing those on Monday if he hasn’t already, and they will go directly to any sort of companies that were dealing with equipment related to Assad and any chemical weapons use,” Haley said. “I think everyone knows that we sent a strong message and our hope is that they listen to it.”
But President Trump wasn’t quite ready to send that message yet. The Washington Post reported that Trump met with his national security team Sunday night to say he was unhappy that the sanctions were being rolled out already. Press secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement that “We are considering additional actions on Russia and a decision will be made in the near future.” The White House, the Post said, characterized Haley’s comments as a “misstatement.”
One More Thing—The backtrack of Haley’s announcement comes at an interesting time for the administration, which delivered “precision strikes” on Syrian government assets late last week in response to Bashar al-Assad’s chemical weapons use. The president maintains this mission is accomplished and doesn’t seem inclined to engage in any further military action. Trump is also seeking to pull out American troops, who are currently engaging ISIS in the eastern part of the country, from Syria altogether.
But the move also comes after this weekend’s internal White House dispute over a longtime Haley deputy, Jon Lerner. Lerner had planned to come on officially as Vice President Mike Pence’s national security adviser, until President Trump and White House chief of staff John Kelly learned of Lerner’s work for an anti-Trump PAC during the 2016 campaign. After Pence seemingly won the argument to bring Lerner on board, Lerner withdrew from the position.
Mark It Down— “We don’t have a timeframe on it.” – White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders on whether the president’s six-month timeline for bringing American troops home from Syria is still operative, April 16, 2018
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Comey Watch—Our editors argue that the FBI should release the memos former FBI director James Comey wrote documenting his interactions with President Trump. “These documents may prove that President Trump obstructed justice when he asked the FBI director to back off the investigation of Michael Flynn, Trump’s short-lived national security adviser. Or they may prove the opposite,” they write. “They may prove that Trump lied repeatedly about his campaign’s connections with Russians. Or they may not.”
President Trump’s nominee for secretary of state may get through the Senate just yet. Republican senator Lindsey Graham told radio host Hugh Hewitt Monday that three Democrats will vote to confirm CIA director and former Kansas congressman Mike Pompeo. Hewitt asked if Heidi Heitkamp, Joe Manchin, and Joe Donnelly will support Pompeo. “They will,” Graham responded.
Pompeo’s nomination looked endangered after his hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last week. Democrats on the committee, even those who had supported Pompeo to head the CIA, sounded unified in their opposition. And Republican Rand Paul has said he will oppose Pompeo.
It’s likely, then, the committee won’t vote to recommend Pompeo, though he would still be entitled (and likely will receive) a floor vote before the full Senate. If Graham’s prediction about his three Democratic colleagues is correct (and assuming the rest of Paul’s Republican colleagues vote for Trump’s nominee), the margins for Pompeo look a lot better than they had. Other red-state Democrats, meanwhile, also seem to be open to the idea of supporting Pompeo.
The Cohen Circus—Another bizarre development in the aftermath of last week’s FBI raid on Trump lawyer Michael Cohen. My colleague Andrew Egger writes:
Cohen’s lawyers were in court Monday to prevent federal prosecutors from going through the files seized in the April 9 raid on Cohen’s home and office. Judge Kimba Wood declined their initial request to allow Trump’s lawyers the first look at the documents taken, remarking that she had faith in the “unimpeachable” integrity of the Southern District of New York prosecutors to handle sensitive information properly. Wood is expected to rule on who is allowed to access the information in the coming days.
Song of the Day— “Whirlwind” by Dispatch
