So not only is a specific Russian oligarch getting a break (yes he has a modified ownership stake but we know how much that’s worth in offshore accounts and shell companies), but he’s the one specifically owed money by Paul Manafort. And then there’s the associated tariff profits that will go to interested speculators.
What was a hopeful vote to bring a bill to prevent a lifting of penalties now should be a search to see which members of the GOP in a vote of 57-42 are benefiting from such an obvious bit of crony capitalism by the Trump administration. It’s not the complete lifting of sanctions that Putin has sought, but it’s a step toward what Trump and his minions had promised to fulfill since 2016.
We already know from other reporting how much Leader McConnell owes to oligarch money, so it’s clear who knew about sides of buttered bread.
The Senate blocked a Democratic bid to force the Treasury Department to keep sanctions on three Russian companies linked to oligarch Oleg Deripaska, as most Republicans backed the Trump administration’s plan to lift the penalties.
The 57-42 Senate vote Wednesday was three short of the 60 needed to advance the Democrats’ resolution to a final vote. As a result, the Treasury Department likely will be able to move forward with its plan announced Dec. 19 to lift sanctions against three companies Deripaska controls -- United Co. Rusal, En+ Group Plc and EuroSibEnergo JSC.
The resolution, sponsored by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, had moved forward Tuesday when in a surprise vote 11 Republicans sided with Democrats to start debate over the objections of GOP leaders. That vote required only a simple majority, and when the same 11 backed the measure Wednesday, it wasn’t enough to advance the measure.
[...]
Mnuchin has said that Deripaska, not the companies, was the intended target of U.S. sanctions imposed in April on associates of Putin over Moscow’s interference in the election. Under Deripaska’s agreement with Treasury to remove sanctions from the three companies, the oligarch would cut his ownership shares to about 45 percent of each company, the boards of En+ and Rusal would be overhauled, and they would submit to Treasury audits.
Schumer and other critics say the agreement would still let Deripaska control the companies through his close ties to other shareholders.
www.bloomberg.com/...
42 votes against:
Alexander (R-TN)
Barrasso (R-WY)
Blackburn (R-TN)
Blunt (R-MO)
Braun (R-IN)
Burr (R-NC)
Capito (R-WV)
Cassidy (R-LA)
Cornyn (R-TX)
Cramer (R-ND)
Crapo (R-ID)
Cruz (R-TX)
Enzi (R-WY)
Ernst (R-IA)
Fischer (R-NE)
Graham (R-SC)
Grassley (R-IA)
Hoeven (R-ND)
Hyde-Smith (R-MS)
Inhofe (R-OK)
Isakson (R-GA)
Johnson (R-WI)
Lankford (R-OK)
Lee (R-UT)
McConnell (R-KY)
Murkowski (R-AK)
Paul (R-KY)
Perdue (R-GA)
Portman (R-OH)
Risch (R-ID)
Roberts (R-KS)
Romney (R-UT)
Rounds (R-SD)
Scott (R-FL)
Scott (R-SC)
Shelby (R-AL)
Sullivan (R-AK)
Thune (R-SD)
Tillis (R-NC)
Toomey (R-PA)
Wicker (R-MS)
Young (R-IN)