US Senator Menendez Says Troubled By Trump Not Standing Up To Russia Over Crimea

US Senator Menendez Says Troubled By Trump Not Standing Up to Russia Over Crimea

US Senator Bob Menendez in a press release on Wednesday said that he is troubled by the way US President Donald Trump appears to be ignoring Congress' demand that he not recognize Russia's so-called occupation of Crimea.

WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 15th August, 2018) US Senator Bob Menendez in a press release on Wednesday said that he is troubled by the way US President Donald Trump appears to be ignoring Congress' demand that he not recognize Russia's so-called occupation of Crimea.

On August 13, Trump in a signing statement said certain provisions in the 2019 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), including one on Crimea, seek to dictate the US position in external military and foreign affairs to the president and therefore tread on the powers of the executive branch.

"This [NDAA] signing statement is troubling because, yet again, the President is showing the world he cannot be trusted when it comes to standing by US commitments and promoting our interests over his own. Congress agreed the United States should never recognize Russias illegal occupation of Crimea and codified this view in the� National Defense Authorization Act," Menendez, the ranking member on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said.

Trump in the same statement said his administration would not share information on funds being used for military-to-military cooperation with Russia, despite a demand by Congress to do so. Trump said his administration would preserve its authority to withhold such information because such a disclosure would "impair national security, foreign relations, law enforcement, or the performance of the President's constitutional duties."

Menendez said the statement shows once again that Congress needs to call on Trump to unequivocally stand up to US allies against Kremlin aggression.

Crimea rejoined Russia in 2014 after 97 percent of the peninsula's residents voted in favor of the move in a referendum. The reunification was not recognized by Ukraine or Western countries, which subsequently imposed economic and political sanctions on Moscow. Russia has repeatedly said that the referendum in Crimea was conducted in compliance with international law.