The President of Foreign Affairs says Trump ignores sanctions against Russia for the former poisoning of espionage

Receive last minute alerts and special reports. WASHINGTON – The Republican Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee is reprimanding President Donald Trump for ignoring a deadline for deciding whether Russia should face sanctions for the poisoning of a person. A former Russian spy in Britain with a military nerve agent

Ed Royce, R-Calif., In a letter to Trump on Thursday and obtained by NBC News, said Trump was applying existing sanctions that punish users of drugs. 39, chemical weapons. He said that the Trump administration had already exceeded by more than a month the legal deadline, and gave the president a new deadline next week to inform Congress of its decision

. Vladimir Putin has ceased to step up his campaign to consolidate power and undermine the United States, "said Royce in the letter." Your compliance with the 1991 Chemical and Biological Weapons Act and the Elimination of the war is essential to show Putin that we are serious about his murderous deeds, as well as his ongoing attacks on our democracy. "

Royce's criticism comes as the other Trump Republicans are increasingly willing to publicly question his foreign policy decisions, especially with regard to Russia.At a Wednesday Senate hearing, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was questioned by GOP Senators who expressed frustration over how Trump handled his summit in Helsinki this month with Russian President Putin and the lack of answers on what happened. "It seems that the May her White wakes up every morning, "said Tennessee President Bob Corker, Britain's Republican President. Royce, who is retiring, is seeking to force Trump to determine whether Russia has violated international law banning the use of chemical weapons by poisoning former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter with Novichok neurological agent. Moscow categorically denied any involvement, even though anxiety grew after two other people in Salisbury, England, were poisoned in a nerve agent attack that the police believer is linked to. One of them is dead.

In March, the United States joined with the United Kingdom, Germany, and France to say that it was "very likely that Russia was responsible" for the United States. Skripal attack. The Trump administration has also expelled dozens of Russian diplomats who it said were spies in an action to punish Moscow for its "use of a chemical chemical weapon on UK soil".

On March 15, Royce wrote to Trump asking him to determine whether Russia had violated the 1991 Chemical and Biological Weapons Act and to apply sanctions. "Under the law, this letter from the President of Foreign Affairs triggers a 60-day deadline by which the President is legally bound to decide whether Russia has violated international law by using chemical weapons abroad.

If the President decides that Moscow has done so, a first round of sanctions against Russia would come immediately.It is not known many of the activities that would be banned – such as the sale of arms to Russia – are already banned under other sanctions punishing the Kremli But three months after these initial sanctions, Russia would be hit with much larger sanctions if Trump did not determine that Russia had stopped using chemical weapons and "provided reliable assurances" that she would no longer use them, including letting UN observers into Russia to inspect .This second round of sanctions would hit the imports. Russian exports and exports, and would also prevent Russian-controlled airlines from flying to the United States.

Royce's letter comes to add to the fallout for Trump from his highly controversial summit with Putin. appeared to side with the Russian leader about US intelligence agencies to find out whether Russia has mingled with the 2016 presidential election. Trump had again knocked out Russian hawks last week by inviting Putin in Washington for a second summit, but the White House said Wednesday that the meeting would be postponed until next year.