![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP17213705122408.jpg.jpg\")
Tillerson conceded that he is unable to show that the U.S. has fulfilled Trump\u2019s objective of a new, more cooperative relationship between the former Cold War foes, noting only modest efforts in Syria as a sign the nations share some common goals. While he said Americans want the U.S. to get along with the nuclear-armed power, he did not address other concerns at home. U.S. intelligence agencies have accused Moscow of meddling in the 2016 presidential election to help Trump.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe situation is bad, but believe me \u2014 it can get worse,\u201d Tillerson said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Vice President Mike Pence, traveling Tuesday in the former Soviet republic of Georgia, sought to reframe the sanctions as a \u201cfurther sign of our commitment\u201d to counter Russian aggression in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe president and our Congress are unified in our message to Russia: A better relationship, the lifting of sanctions will require Russia to reverse the actions that caused the sanctions to be imposed in the first place,\u201d Pence said. \u201cAnd not before.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle celebrated the passage of the sanctions bill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s long overdue,\u201d Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., the vice chairman of the Senate intelligence committee, said of Trump\u2019s decision to sign the bill nearly a week after it cleared Congress. \u201cHope we\u2019ll send again a strong message to Russia that we can\u2019t have interference in our elections going forward.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, said he hadn\u2019t read the statement Trump issued announcing that he\u2019d signed the sanctions bill. But Corker, who shepherded the legislation through the Senate, appeared indifferent to Trump\u2019s criticisms. \u201cSomebody pointed it out,\u201d Corker said exiting the Senate chamber after a vote. \u201cThat\u2019s fine.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But the House\u2019s top Democrat blasted Trump for calling the bill \u201cseriously flawed,\u201d saying it raises serious questions about whether his administration will follow the law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said the Republican-led Congress must not allow the White House to \u201cwriggle out of its duty to impose these sanctions for Russia\u2019s brazen assault on our democracy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDemocrats will demand tough oversight to ensure strong and immediate implementation of the sanctions law,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Associated Press writers Richard Lardner and Josh Lederman contributed to this report from Washington.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
President Donald Trump on Wednesday signed what he called a \u201cseriously flawed\u201d bill imposing new sanctions on Russia, pressured by his Republican Party not to move on his own toward a warmer relationship with Moscow in light of Russian actions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":68481,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":62,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[101,12,26,62],"tags":[],"coauthors":[2930],"class_list":["post-51436","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-news","category-newsletters","category-pentagon-congress"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"LXOHTE2XONFF5JA6NBG4U3H7WA","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2017\/08\/02\/trump-signs-seriously-flawed-russia-sanctions-bill\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n