In an interview with NBC\u2019s \u201cMeet the Press,\u201d Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said he and Senator John McCain of Arizona plan to introduce legislation for tougher sanctions against Russia, hitting the country in the financial and energy sectors \u201cwhere they\u2019re the weakest.\u201d
Graham also said he supports a permanent U. S. military training presence in Ukraine, Georgia and the Baltic states, according to a transcript provided by the network.
\u201cWe\u2019re going to give President Trump an opportunity to make Russia pay a price for interfering in our election so it will deter others in the future,\u201d Graham said. \u201cI hope he will take advantage of it.\u201d
Graham said he thinks Trump is worried that delving into what Russia did during the election campaign will undermine his legitimacy in the Oval Office.
Thaw Ahead?
\u201cI don\u2019t know what drives him on Russia, but I do know this. That if our policies don\u2019t change vis-a-vis Russia, the worst is yet to come,\u201d Graham said. \u201cAnd the Congress is going to have a different view on Russia than the president-elect does.\u201d
Trump on Saturday suggested warmer relations were coming between the Washington and Moscow, a day after U. S. intelligence chiefs briefed him on the evidence tying interference in the election campaign to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
\u201cHaving a good relationship with Russia is a good thing, not a bad thing,\u201d Trump said in a series of three tweets. \u201cOnly \u2018stupid\u2019 people, or fools, would think it is bad! We have enough problems around the world without yet another one.\u201d
McCain, also speaking on NBC, said the Senate Armed Services Committee, which he chairs, will continue to conduct hearings around cyber threats. McCain said he supports appointing a special Senate committee to investigate the campaign hacking, rather than having several committees do their own probes.
The Oilman Cometh
Trump\u2019s approach to Russia is expected to be debated on Jan. 11 at the confirmation hearing for Rex Tillerson, his nominee for secretary of state, before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Panel members have said they\u2019ll press Tillerson, the former chief executive officer of Exxon Mobil Corp., about his years of friendly business dealings with Putin.
\u2018Very Nefarious\u2019
While Committee Chairman Bob Corker said on Friday that Tillerson\u2019s views on Russia \u201care not in any way out of the mainstream,\u201d the Tennessee Republican added that Russia has done \u201cvery nefarious things.\u201d
Similarly, Graham said Tillerson has to convince him that as a career oilman he sees Putin as undermining democracy with actions such as the hacking attacks, and that new sanctions are justified.
\u201cI\u2019m looking for a secretary of state who understands Russia and understands the world as it really is. I had a great meeting with him,\u201d Graham said. \u201cI hope he can articulate to the American people that he understands Putin has been a disruptive force when it comes to democracy.\u201d<\/p>\n