The GOP's patience on Russia is wearing thin

Politico

15-05-2025

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President DONALD TRUMP is holding out hope for direct talks with Russian President VLADIMIR PUTIN to find a way to end the war in Ukraine. But back in Washington, Republicans are losing patience with Moscow.
'Putin has shown, first of all, he's not trustworthy. Second of all, that he's not serious about this. He's slow rolling this,' Rep. ROB WITTMAN (R-Va.), a member of the House Armed Services Committee, said at the POLITICO Security Summit today. 'There has to be consequences for him not being serious about negotiating peace.'
'Putin has disrespected the US and the goodwill of our President,' Sen. JOHN CORNYN (R-Texas) wrote in a post on X.
It's clear Republican lawmakers are champing at the bit to unleash new sanctions on Russia. The big question is whether Trump will reach that point, too.
Trump told reporters today that he thinks only a direct meeting with Putin will get results — and that he's not giving up on peace talks yet. 'Look, nothing is gonna happen until Putin and I get together,' Trump told reporters on board Air Force One en route to the United Arab Emirates.
Ukrainian President VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY has said he would meet Putin face-to-face for talks in Turkey, and Trump, currently on a tour of the Middle East, previously mused about going if Putin would go. But Putin was a no-show, opting instead to send lower-level technocrats to lead the negotiations with Ukrainian counterparts.
Trump, from Air Force One, added: 'And he wasn't gonna go. … He wasn't going if I wasn't there. And I don't believe anything will happen, whether you like it or not, until he and I get together. But we are gonna have to get it solved because too many people are dying.'
Zelenskyy was quick to seize on Putin's absence, calling it the starkest sign yet the Russian president isn't genuine in efforts to end the three year-long war against Ukraine, which has taken more than 100,000 lives.
Trump's Republican allies on Capitol Hill have a massive new sanctions bill on Russia — with broad bipartisan support — locked and loaded. But so far it hasn't gone to the floor for a vote. The bill was introduced last month by Sens. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-S.C.) and RICHARD BLUMENTHAL (D-Conn.) Rep. MICHAEL MCCAUL (R-Texas), told our own Phelim Kine at the Security Summit today that he is supporting a version of the sanctions bill in the House.
'Zelenskyy has agreed to a 30-day ceasefire. Putin's response is bombing Ukraine on Palm Sunday,' McCaul said. 'There's a pattern here. It doesn't take an expert to see the lack of sincerity in this negotiation.'
Sen. JEANNE SHAHEEN (D-N.H.), the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said the bill has 70 supporters. 'It's veto proof. Let's get that done now,' she told reporters Tuesday. 'Let's let Russia know we're really serious, and if they don't move that, there are going to be consequences.'
Sen. Majority Leader JOHN THUNE's office said it doesn't have any scheduling announcements on the bill.
Some Republican lawmakers have said they want to give Trump room to negotiate even as they criticize Putin, meaning holding back on legislation that would punish Russia to help facilitate talks. But the fresh wave of criticism shows their patience is wearing thin. And that may in turn escalate pressure on the Trump administration to start playing bad cop with Moscow again.
ALSO: The Trump White House's top counterterrorism official, SEBASTIAN GORKA, had some fiery exchanges during an interview with our own Dasha Burns at the Security Summit on Trump's border and deportation policies, Iran talks, negotiations with Russia over Ukraine and criticism of POLITICO's own coverage of the administration. You can watch the full interview here.
The Inbox
FIRST IN NATSEC DAILY – BEHIND ROMANIA'S LOSS OF VISA WAIVER PROGRAM: The Department of Homeland Security announced in March that Romania had lost its visa waiver program in part to 'ensure border and immigration security.' But a previously unreported internal NSC memo obtained by our own Daniel Lippman showed that the Trump administration also considered another factor: Romania's failure to abide by what the White House saw as democratic norms after it annulled an election last year.
Romania has drawn Vice President JD VANCE's ire for prohibiting hard-right politician CĂLIN GEORGESCU from running in a redo this month of an election he won last year that was later annulled.
The 'summary of conclusions' memo from the NSC policy coordination committee meeting on March 14 shows there was some internal dissension about the move. The U.S. Embassy in Bucharest said that 'removal of Romania's designation could result in damage to U.S. image,' according to the document. But the committee, chaired by NSC senior director for Europe and Eurasia ANDREW PEEK, said it was important to ensure Romania 'upholds the democratic process and conducts free, fair, and transparent elections.' The meeting was put together to decide how to contribute to a 'broader Administration effort to prevent the deterioration of democratic norms and practices in Europe writ large,' according to the memo.
'Protecting the integrity of our immigration and visa system is critical to securing our national security,' a White House official said in a statement to NSD. 'There are strict requirements to qualify for the benefit of the Visa Waiver Program, which it wasn't clear Romania had in fact met when the Biden administration rushed the process in its waning days. We separately have concerns about anti-democratic actions in Europe, including lawfare against certain points of view.'
DHS spokesperson TRICIA MCLAUGHLIN said in a statement that it was 'grateful for Romania's close partnership over the years to enhance security cooperation' and that the country may be reconsidered for the program in the future.'
A spokesperson for the Romanian embassy said in a statement that such considerations about democratic norms were 'not part of our dialogue with U.S. officials' and that 'based on the assessment of U.S. agencies leading to the designation as a VWP country, Romania met the program's statutory requirements.'
'Romania reiterates its full willingness to engage in discussions with the United States, as close strategic partners, on ways to address this issue moving forward,' the spokesperson added. 'The decision to ban Mr. Călin Georgescu's candidacy was made within the existing constitutional framework by an independent authority — not by the Romanian government.'
ABOUT THOSE SANCTIONS: Trump's decision to abruptly lift all sanctions on Syria — which won him rare praise from Democrats — isn't as simple as flipping a switch, former officials and experts told our own Felicia Schwartz.
'That was a pretty sweeping announcement when you consider that we have sedimentary layers of sanctions going back to 1979 and, of course, U.S. law as the Caesar act,' said a former U.S. official who was granted anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomatic conversations. The Caesar act is a sweeping landmark sanctions bill, passed in 2019 and extended in 2024, that imposed secondary sanctions to restrict any investment in Syria under the former BASHAR AL-ASSAD regime.
Trump and the executive branch have very wide latitude to suspend the sanctions unilaterally without Congress, though what exactly he meant by lifting all sanctions and how fast that could happen remains unclear. MATT ZWEIG, a former U.S. sanctions official, noted that while Trump could swiftly roll back many trade sanctions, export controls and related restrictions if he chose to, 'the key question is whether the administration would benefit from a deliberative and strategic process.' Zweig is now with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies Action, an advocacy group connected to the think tank.
Rep. JOE WILSON (R-S.C.) said today that Trump's move should include lifting export controls. 'Lifting sanctions while keeping export controls means Chinese and not American companies will lead Syrian reconstruction contrary to President Trump's vision,' he wrote.
The Treasury Department said today that it is working with the State Department and NSC to implement 'the necessary authorizations that would be critical to bringing new investment into Syria.' Secretary of State MARCO RUBIO also told reporters in Turkey today that the administration will use waivers in the Caesar act to lift initial sanctions but will work on repealing the legislation.
Trump said his decision followed lobbying from the leaders of Saudi Arabia and Turkey, but other governments in the region like Israel, the UAE and Egypt are anxious about the move amid concerns about Syrian leader AHMED AL-SHARAA's past ties to al Qaeda.
'There are still deep reservations on the part of several governments,' the former U.S. official said. 'But clearly the most significant piece of this is the impact that it will have in clearing the way for a real regeneration of the Syrian economy.'
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The Complex
TRUMP'S PLANE-SIZED HEADACHE HITS ARMS SALES: Democratic lawmakers are trying to block billions of dollars in arms sales to two Middle Eastern countries to protest investments in Trump's personal business and a jet offered to him, as your lead NatSec Daily author and our own Joe Gould report today.
Sen. CHRIS MURPHY (D-Conn.) plans to force a vote on five major arms sales to the United Arab Emirates and Qatar valued at $3.5 billion following Qatar's offer to gift a luxury Boeing aircraft for Trump to use as Air Force One. He and Sen. CHRIS VAN HOLLEN (D-Md.) also plan to co-lead measures to block U.S. arms sales to the UAE over its decision to invest $2 billion in Trump's cryptocurrency venture. Murphy has characterized these moves as 'illegal bribes' to enrich the president personally — a charge that the Trump administration and his Republican allies dismiss.
But regardless of whether these arms sales are blocked, Republican lawmakers are voicing their own unease at the prospect of Trump receiving the Qatari 747 as a gift (and potentially a temporary Air Force One).
Senior House Armed Services member ROB WITTMAN (R-Va.) told our own Jonathan Martin at the Security Summit: 'I have some concerns about an aircraft coming to the United States from the Qataris, both from a security aspect ... [and] all the questions too of accepting gifts from foreign governments.' He added: 'Congress needs to play a role' in any potential deal.
Sen. DEB FISCHER (R-Neb.), a senior Senate Armed Services Committee member, said she wants to examine the plane from more of a policy and a budget' perspective.
'I want to look at the cost of that and how that compares to just getting a new plane, but also the idea that it would be carried over after President Trump's presidency for his library,' Fischer told our own Joe Gould on stage at POLITICO's summit. 'How does that affect the taxpayer? Because obviously the next president is going to need a plane.'
On the Hill
DON'T FORGET ABOUT HUMAN RIGHTS: Senate Democrats are keeping busy hammering the Trump administration on other foreign policy aspects, too. Sens. Van Hollen and Shaheen led a letter to Rubio criticizing the Trump administration's move to scale down the bureau in the State Department that manages human rights issues and steeply cut funding to programs that support human rights programs abroad. Thirteen other Democratic lawmakers signed onto the letter.
'When the United States conveniently wields human rights principles as a political cudgel against our adversaries, but does not apply those same standards to our allies, countries like China and Russia are quick to point out such hypocrisy, and American influence on the world stage drops precipitously,' they wrote.
Broadsides
OVERWORKED: Two former U.S. national security advisers say that Rubio has too many jobs for one guy.
'It's simply impossible' for Rubio to simultaneously serve as secretary of State and national security adviser, said JOHN BOLTON, who held the job in the first Trump administration.
'One thing I never thought about in four years as national security adviser was, 'Hey I have spare time, let me also take the secretary of State job,'' said JAKE SULLIVAN, who served in the role for President JOE BIDEN. 'I actually think it's ludicrous to think that you could do both jobs.'
Both made the comments at POLITICO's Security Summit today.
Still, Bolton said Rubio 'has integrity' and while he could reach a point where he wouldn't be able to serve any longer, 'we haven't reached that point yet.' Rubio has made light of juggling multiple administration jobs at once as part of Trump's drive to boost government efficiency. 'Can you take what today are four jobs and just give them all to one person?' he said last week during a speech to the Congressional Hispanic Leadership Institute. 'And I said that sounds like a great idea, let's do it all across the government. Little did I know they just meant me!'
National Security Council spokesperson JAMES HEWITT said in response: 'Secretary Rubio has done an extortionary job implementing the President's America First agenda and is capable of fulfilling the duties of both positions. I'm not sure how John Bolton can claim it's 'impossible' when it's been done before.'
Bolton was much less charitable in his assessment of Trump's special envoy for the Middle East STEVE WITKOFF — who is also leading talks with Putin over Ukraine.
'He knows nothing about Russia, he knows nothing about Ukraine, he knows nothing about Iran, he knows nothing about nuclear weapons, he knows nothing about international arms control and nuclear proliferation, knows nothing about verification and compliance with international agreements. What could go wrong?' Bolton said.
Hewitt did not respond to a request for comment on Witkoff's role. However, Republican lawmakers and administration officials have repeatedly defended Trump's decision to pick who he wants for top jobs — and many have gone to bat defending Witkoff.
Transitions
— DAVE LUBER, the head of the National Security Agency's cybersecurity directorate will retire at the end of the month, as The Record reports.
What to Read
— Eric Schmitt and Helene Cooper, New York Times: Trump's Military Buildup at the Border Expands
— GLOBSEC US Foundation: Bridging the supply-demand gap for critical minerals by 2030
— Anagha Subhash Nair, Foreign Policy Magazine: The Long Shadow of Syria's Chemical Weapons
Tomorrow Today
— Atlantic Council, 9:00 a.m.: Critical minerals and the pathways to prosperity, peace, and security in the DRC
— Center for Strategic and International Studies, 9:30 a.m.: Securing the Future of U.S. Quantum Leadership with Rep. RAJA KRISHNAMOORTHI
— Atlantic Council, 10:00 a.m.: Lucian Kim on 'Putin's Revenge' and Russia's war on Ukraine
Thanks to our editors, Heidi Vogt and Emily Lussier, who are the main roadblocks to our peace plans.