U.S. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., Thursday called on the FBI to step up an investigation into whether Russia is blackmailing President Donald Trump, accusing the administration of giving “Vladimir Putin’s thugs … a thank you present” for meddling in the U.S. election.
The Treasury Department said Thursday it would allow companies to conduct limited transactions with the security service, known as the FSB, so information technology products can be imported into Russia. Treasury officials told reporters the action does not signal a shift in policy but merely provides a “technical fix” in response to “direct complaints” from companies that were unable to import products without a permit from the FSB, which also regulates importation of software and hardware, even things that are broadly available commercially like cellphones and printers.
White House spokesman Sean Spicer denied the action amounted to easing sanctions on Russia.
“U.S. intelligence agencies have thoroughly detailed the Russian security services’ brazen assault on American democracy in support of candidate Donald Trump. Less than two weeks after walking into the White House, President Trump lifts sanctions on the Russian Security Service,” Pelosi said in a statement. “Vladimir Putin’s thugs meddle with an American election, and President Trump gives them a thank you present.”
Pelosi said she wants to know, “What do the Russians have on President Trump?”
She called on the FBI to “accelerate their investigation into the financial, personal and political ties between Donald Trump and Russia. President Trump’s reckless and dangerous agenda is jeopardizing America’s national security.”
A dossier of unsubstantiated allegations about Trump’s business dealings and sexual escapades in Russia surfaced earlier this month, raising questions of whether Trump’s stated admiration of Putin was rooted in pressure from Moscow.
Mother Jones reported in October a former Western counterintelligence official turned over to the FBI information indicating connections between the Trump campaign and the Russian government. The dossier was subsequently published by BuzzFeed.
It was not immediately clear whether an FBI investigation actually is underway.
Other House and Senate Democrats also have called for a thorough investigation.
Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., the second-ranking Democrat, said after a briefing Jan. 13 with intelligence chiefs the situation is “even worse” than he previously thought, the Washington Post reported.
U.S. intelligence agencies concluded Russia tried to interfere with the election, hacking into the email accounts of the Democratic National Committee and Clinton campaign chief John Podesta, then turning embarrassing emails over to WikiLeaks for publication (although WikiLeaks denies Russia was its source for the trove).
Hackers also tried to get into the voter databases of several states, but state election officials denied the intrusions had any impact on the election process.
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