Dems push Trump to extradite Russians indicted by Mueller
Top congressional Democrats are urging President Trump to “devote all available resources” to bringing 13 Russian nationals accused of meddling in the presidential election to the United States so they can stand trial.
Senate Democratic Leader Charles Schumer (N.Y.), House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) and Sens. Dianne Feinstein (Calif.) and Jerrold Nadler (N.Y.) — the top Democrats on the Senate and House judiciary committees, respectively — sent a letter to Trump, saying the government “has a number of tools at its disposal” to bring the individuals to the United States.
“We write to urge your administration to devote all resources available to ensure that the Russian nationals indicted for allegedly interfering with the 2016 elections are brought to justice and stand trial in the United States,” they wrote.
{mosads}Special counsel Robert Mueller brought charges against 13 Russian nationals and three Russian entities last month for allegedly interfering in the election. The Russians are accused of working to “sow discord” in the U.S. political system, in part through fake social media accounts.
But Russian President Vladimir Putin said last month that he would “never” extradite the individuals.
The Democrats in their letter said that Putin’s stance is “simply unacceptable” and knocked Trump, who has repeatedly cast doubt on the intelligence community’s assessment that Russia interfered in the election.
“It is extraordinary and confounding how little your administration is doing to counter Putin’s campaign to undermine our grand democracy, including the refusal to implement sanctions that passed Congress nearly unanimously,” they wrote.
The U.S. and Russia do not have a formal extradition treaty. But the Democratic lawmakers argued there are a “number of tools” the government could use to try and extradite the individuals, including using international policing organizations and trying to leverage “diplomatic channels.”
“Ensuring these Russian nationals stand trial in the United States is imperative for deterring Russia from future attacks on our democracy and would be a signal to those who seek to meddle with our election that such actions are not without consequences,” they added.
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