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President Trump is expected to sign a decree Wednesday authorizing sanctions against foreigners trying to interfere in the US elections, according to three people close to the case.
A US official described the order as "another tool in the toolbox" to deter the intervention of foreign opponents.
"This is not a unique solution, but the president clearly states that this type of activity will not be tolerated and will be punished," said the manager.
The people aware of the case said that they were expecting Trump to sign the order Wednesday, but that the preparations for the expected passage of Hurricane Florence Thursday or Friday could cause a delay.
Reuters first announced its intention to sign the order. A proposed draft decree was reported by the Washington Post.
Asked about the order, White House National Security Council spokesman Garrett Marquis said, "President Trump is committed to protecting our country's elections from foreign interference. malicious actor. "
Trump administration officials have been eager to respond to concerns about Russian electoral interference. This is explained by the criticism of the legislators of both parties, that the administration has not done enough to deter opponents, especially Moscow, trying to spread political misinformation on social networks or hacking systems of vote.
Critics peaked in July when Trump held a summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki and seemed to accept Russian denials of interference regarding the unanimous assessment of his own agencies. information.
US intelligence agencies have concluded that Moscow, under Putin's leadership, launched a multi-pronged cyber-operation in the 2016 presidential election to denigrate Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton and reinforce M's candidacy. Trump, a Republican.
Those familiar with the drafts of the order said they were concerned that they would be written in such a way as to give the administration considerable latitude in interpreting and determining the strength of the sanctions.
Under a draft order examined by certain individuals, various intelligence agencies, including the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, would be responsible for determining whether there was foreign interference.
Electoral interference would include trying to divulge pirated political information or spreading propaganda on social media to affect public opinion. This could also involve efforts to hack the electoral infrastructure, said the editor of the order.
Some people familiar with the order said they were partly aimed at removing more energetic legislative proposals from Congress, where a number of lawmakers have tried in recent months to impose harsher sanctions on Russia for electoral interference.
The Defender Elections from Threats by Establishing Redlines Act of 2018, or Deter Act, was introduced in January by Sens. Chris Van Hollen (D., Md.) And Marco Rubio (R., Fla.). It aims to prevent the electoral interference of Russia and other foreign entities and to establish reporting obligations for the intelligence community and authorizes sanctions against financial institutions, energy companies, public entities and defense and intelligence entities Russian.
The measure would also impose financial penalties on "political figures and oligarchs" and ban their entry into the United States.
According to the bill, the president could put an end to sanctions only after intelligence officials have certified that the Russian government has not ingested in US elections "for at least two cycles of the presidential election "future.
The measure also calls for collaboration with the European Union and its member states to prevent Russian electoral interference.
A complementary bill was introduced in the House by representatives Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R., Fla.) And Brad Schneider (D., Ill.).
