Republicans are growing increasingly frustrated over President Trump’s recent moves that have advantaged Russia on the battlefield at the cost of the U.S.’s ally Ukraine, but whether they can force the issue in Congress remains to be seen.
The president’s executive order signed Friday to waive sanctions against Russia, just days before they took effect, quickly fueled backlash from Democrats and some Republicans.
The sanctions were to be implemented under a law that passed Congress with overwhelming bipartisan support, named for the late Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), a staunch Trump ally and ardent Ukraine supporter.
“It’s unconscionable that this administration is capitulating to a Russian dictator who illegally invaded Ukraine and butchers innocent civilians every single day,” Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), one of the more vocal Trump critics within the GOP, said in a post on the social platform X.
“Lindsey would be appalled,” wrote Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas).
Trump defended his decision to waive sanctions in a Truth Social post on Sunday, arguing that it keeps Russia at the negotiating table. He said he could reverse course at any time.
“I am in the process of negotiating Peace in the war between Russia and Ukraine, and don’t want to do anything that will drive, foolishly, Russia away from the bargaining table,” he said.
Republican leaders intentionally gave the president broad discretion over the sanctions in order to get the White House's support for the bill. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) told Fox News on Sunday that Trump's waiver was "the right decision."
The move is one of a few the administration has made in recent days that critics say are only contributing to furthering Russian President Vladimir Putin's war machine.
Trump’s deal with Putin to import Russian diesel fuel into the U.S. has been met with similar pushback across the political spectrum.
This has come while Ukrainian officials have reported they’ve lost access to SpaceX’s Starlink and Starshield technology, which has been key to Ukraine’s communications and drone operations during the war.
Both Elon Musk, who owns SpaceX, and the White House have denied responsibility for the interruption to Ukraine’s access. The Telegraph has reported that Musk came to Trump with the idea, while a source familiar with the discussion told Axios that Trump didn’t push back on it.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told NBC News’s Kristen Welker Starlink had been "deblocked" in an interview that aired Sunday on “Meet the Press.”
“We are very thankful for this,” he said. “Now it works.”
He’s been seeking to ramp up pressure on the Trump administration in recent days to stand by his country, warning of dire consequences if Ukraine is abandoned.
“If United States will support Putin, I mean, it’s unbelievable, it’s tragedy, it’s historic mistake and big tragedy. That’s why I think that I don’t want to live in illusions, but I think that we have to be pragmatic,” he told Welker.
The administration’s Russia-friendly posture has rallied a growing chorus of House Republicans to use their leverage ahead of an expected battle over additional funding for the Pentagon in Congress following the midterms, The Hill’s Mike Lillis and Filip Timotija report.
Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) warned that none of Trump’s legislative agenda will pass through Congress during the lame-duck session unless the president takes action to punish Russia. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) threatened funding for agencies “if they’re not doing their jobs.”
“There’s going to be enough pressure from the Hill that the admin recognizes that they need to back off, to some degree, if they actually want to get something done,” a House GOP aide said.
Republicans also don’t seem to all be taking the administration’s word that it wasn’t responsible for the disruption to Ukraine’s Starlink access.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio reiterated Saturday that the administration didn’t order it slowed but it “sort of happened."
Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio), a member of the House Armed Services Committee, said on CBS News’s “Face the Nation” that the explanation is “absolutely not” sufficient.
“This is something where there needs to be” a congressional investigation, Turner said.
Sens. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) and Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) are pushing a deal to give Ukraine access to Starshield over Russia in exchange for Kyiv to halt attacks on Russian petroleum infrastructure, which Trump has blamed for worsening the global energy crisis.
Cramer told Margaret Brennan this would allow Ukraine to "go deep into Russia and attack their attackers, in other words, their launch facilities, kill the archer, not the arrows," during an appearance on CBS News's "Face the Nation."
Even Sen. Darline Graham (R-S.C.), the sister of the late senator, broke with the president over the sanctions waiver, saying she planned to discuss the matter with him when he visits South Carolina for a rally this week.
“Personally, I would choose to keep the pressure on Russia … because I don’t trust Putin, and I don’t trust Russia,” she told The Associated Press, stopping short of criticizing Trump directly.
▪ The Hill: The Memo: Ukraine’s slide into crisis sharpens questions for Trump.
▪ The Hill: Ukraine faces grim question on if it can go on without the U.S.
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