Democrats Still Unhappy With Administration's Handling of Russia Sanctions

Treasury secretary Steve Mnuchin reassured lawmakers Tuesday that the department is preparing sanctions against corrupt Kremlin-linked people who are listed in a classified version of a report mandated by Congress.

But Democrats remain dissatisfied with the administration’s public handling of that action, as well as its implementation of the broader Russia-sanctions portion of a wide-ranging law passed in July, which is intended in part to crack down on Russia for 2016 election interference.

Under that legislation signed reluctantly by the president in August, the administration had to provide Congress with a report last Monday on Russian oligarchs and senior political figures. Experts and lawmakers slammed the resulting public document as a copy-and-paste version of Forbes’ 2017 richest Russians list.

Mnuchin said Wednesday that an “incredibly extensive” classified annex goes further than the public list, and will serve as the foundation for further sanctions.

“We detailed in the report where there was evidence of corruption, family relationships, net worth,” he told lawmakers on the House Financial Services Committee. “We did identify people that were involved in corruption, and we will be using that to come out with sanctions.”