In his ongoing quest to prove to Robert Mueller that he is not an agent of the Kremlin, Reuters reports that President Trump will sign an executive order as soon as Wednesday that will slap sanctions on any foreign companies or people who interfere in U.S. elections, based on intelligence agency findings. The sanction targets could include “individual people or entire companies accused of interfering in U.S. elections by cyber attacks or other means,” an official told Reuters. It was not clear if entire countries would also be subject to the order.
And in what appears to be an olive branch from the White House to the US intelligence community, the order will put a range of agencies in charge of deciding if meddling occurred, led by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and including the CIA, the National Security Agency and the Homeland Security Department, the sources said.
Election interference will be defined in the order as hacking attempts against “election infrastructure,” and efforts to sway public opinion through coordinated digital propaganda or systematic leaks of private political information. Which, with the Republicans reportedly set to lose control of the House according to various analysts and pundits, could come in handy now that the table are about to be turned, and it will be the republicans who will be blaming the Russians for the upcoming GOP loss in the midterms.
Reuters also notes that based on a recent draft of the order, it will require any federal agency aware of election interference by foreigners to take the information to the office of Director of National Intelligence.
“The administration is keen to set a new norm in cyberspace,” the official said. “This is a first step in stating boundaries and publicly announcing our response for bad behavior.”
The order represents the latest in a series of Trump administration efforts to look tough on election security before voting in November that will decide whether Trump’s Republican Party can keep its majorities in both the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate.
Meanwhile, Congress has been purposefully left out of the executive order drafting process, because the administration wants to preempt legislation being considered in the House and Senate that addresses similar issues.
U.S. lawmakers have introduced various pieces of Russia-related legislation, including the “Deter Act,” to set out punishments for election meddling, and what one lawmaker called a sanctions bill “from hell” to punish Moscow for cyber crime and its activities in Syria, Ukraine and elsewhere.
More than a year ago, Congress passed a Russia sanctions bill however some lawmakers – including some Republicans as well as Democrats – were peeved at what they saw as the administration’s reluctance to implement it. Trump signed the bill only after Congress passed it with huge majorities.
It was in accordance with that law, that the U.S. Treasury imposed major sanctions against 24 Russians, striking at allies of Putin in one of Washington’s most aggressive moves to punish Moscow.
Trump’s decision coincides with intelligence agencies, as well as military and law enforcement set to defend the Nov. 6 congressional elections from predicted foreign attacks even as Trump mocks the special counsel’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 elections.
The post Trump To Sign Executive Order Sanctioning Foreigners Who “Meddle” In US Elections appeared first on crude-oil.news.