White House walks back Nikki Haley’s Russia sanctions talk

17/04/2018

Haley had said on the Sunday talk shows that new sanctions would be announced on Monday.

By ANDREW RESTUCCIA
04/16/2018

President Donald Trump walked back U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley’s assertion on Sunday that the administration would be imminently announcing another round of sanctions against Russia.

A White House official told POLITICO Monday that Trump had not signed off on the sanctions, despite Haley’s Sunday comments on CBS’ “Face the Nation” that they would be announced as soon as Monday.

The administration had reviewed a series of options as part of the response to the chemical attack in Syria earlier this month, including the sanctions on Russian entities, but Trump had not officially approved them, the official said.

“The sanctions were always something that was just under consideration,” the official said, adding, “We would not have rolled out sanctions through somebody saying them on a Sunday show.”