Sen. Blumenthal: Trump-Putin ‘Summit Seems To Be Just Another Putin Ploy’

EXCERPT:

BLUMENTHAL: “But this summit seems to be just another Putin ploy. And the Graham-Blumenthal bill would go farther than the president‘s order. The Trump order is a hammer. What we would apply is a sledgehammer with higher sanctions, 500%, as opposed to 100%, and broader. We would go against the Russian shadow fleet. And most importantly, it would demonstrate to the world, as well as our European allies, that there is unity between Congress and the president, between Democrats and Republicans. We have 85 co-sponsors. The bill would pass overwhelmingly, by more than 90 votes, if it were simply given a vote. And it will be if Trump gives it the green light. And its additional advantage is that it would make these sanctions bulletproof legally. Right now, a presidential order could be challenged, and we want to make sure that it is legally invulnerable to any kind of challenge. So I‘m very hopeful that the president will listen to the First Lady. You remember the conversation he had with her after he came back one day and he said, 'I just had a wonderful talk with president Putin.' And she said, 'well, that‘s great. They just bombed another Ukrainian city.' Putin is a bloodthirsty thug. He understands only force, and now is the time for sanctions to be applied."