U.S. Sen. Jacky Rosen, a Nevada Democrat who sits on both the Senate Armed Services and Foreign Relations committees, accused President Donald Trump on Saturday of “brazenly” throwing Russian President Vladimir Putin a “lifeline” by waiving a sweeping Russia sanctions law that Congress passed with bipartisan support just weeks ago. Rosen said she is “outraged” by what she called a “betrayal of American interests and the Ukrainian people,” and she linked the move directly to the gas prices that have climbed since the war in Iran began.
Rosen Says Trump “Brazenly Threw a Lifeline to Putin”
Rosen posted her reaction on X at 12:55 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 17, 2026, less than a day after Trump signed the order that exempted Russia from the new sanctions. In the post, the senator framed the decision as both a betrayal of Ukraine and a cover for domestic policy failures.
The full post reads:
“Congress came together in a bipartisan way to punish Vladimir Putin and increase pressure on Russia to end its brutal and unprovoked war against Ukraine. Then last night, Trump brazenly threw a lifeline to Putin to try to cover for his failed policies that have made gas prices soar.
I’m outraged by this betrayal of American interests and the Ukrainian people, and by this Administration’s complete capitulation to Putin. This is just another way Trump is choosing to enable Russia’s war machine and submit to Putin, making us weaker.”
The Order Behind the Post
Trump signed the order Friday night, Oct. 16, under the title “Implementing the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026.” The order states that Trump signed the Graham Act into law on Sept. 18, 2026. It then invokes Section 115 of that law, which lets the president waive sanctions, restrictions and duties if he submits a written certification to Congress that doing so serves the national interest. “I am hereby waiving the application of such sanctions, restrictions, and duties provided for in the Graham Act,” Trump wrote, adding that he had submitted to Congress a certification that the waiver “at this time is in the national interests of the United States.”
The order’s operative section waives the duties provided under sections 112 and 113 of the law, along with the sanctions provision in section 102(d) and a long list of other sanctions provisions. The waivers stay in effect until the president or the Secretary of State, in consultation with the Treasury secretary and the U.S. trade representative, determines that further action is appropriate. The order also says it does not affect sanctions imposed under earlier executive orders addressing Russia’s “harmful foreign activities,” and it directs the trade representative to monitor other countries’ purchases of Russian oil and gas and recommend further steps.
The law was named for Sen. Lindsey Graham, the South Carolina Republican who died in July after more than a year of building support for it. It was designed to target Russian officials, oligarchs and financial institutions, and it gave the president authority to impose tariffs of up to 100 percent on countries that import Russian oil and gas and up to 500 percent on Russian goods entering the United States. It was set to take effect Saturday, Oct. 18, so Trump issued the waiver two days before that date. Rosen’s post included a link to a New York Times report on the order, which noted that the order does not explain why waiving the sanctions serves U.S. interests.
The Diesel Deal That Came First
The waiver followed a separate move a week earlier. On Oct. 9, Trump announced on Truth Social that he had reached a deal with Putin after a phone call, saying Russia would immediately supply more than 300,000 metric tons of diesel to U.S. and global markets, with larger volumes to follow in the coming months. That same day, the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control issued General License No. 135, which authorizes transactions related to the sale, delivery, offloading and importation of Russian-origin diesel, including into the United States, through 12:01 a.m. eastern daylight time on April 7, 2027. The license does not authorize any debit to accounts of Russia’s Central Bank, National Wealth Fund or Ministry of Finance.
Bipartisan Backlash and Ukraine’s Response
Criticism arrived quickly from both sides of the aisle. Rep. Don Beyer, a Virginia Democrat, said the move “again betrays our Ukrainian partners and defies clear congressional intent.” Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, the top Democrat on the Banking Committee, called it an “abject failure” of leadership. In Ukraine, Oleksandr Merezhko, chairman of the parliament’s foreign affairs committee, said Trump “is feeding the Russian war machine.” President Volodymyr Zelensky said Saturday that “it definitely does not stop the war,” and that the sanctions rollback and the diesel deal were likely only “the first step.”
The diesel deal had already drawn opposition inside Trump’s own party. On Oct. 13, a bipartisan group of 12 senators, led by Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal and including six Republicans, sent Trump a letter urging him to rescind the deal. The senators called it “a gift to our adversary and a betrayal of our Allies,” and wrote that it “damages American security interests and is a betrayal of the people of Ukraine.” They also acknowledged the “urgent need” to lower energy costs for Americans but argued that Russian diesel would bring “limited to no relief.”
Gas Prices, the Iran War and the Midterms
The political stakes are heightened by the election calendar. Midterm elections are scheduled for Nov. 3, and gas and diesel prices have been elevated since the U.S.-Iran war began earlier this year. Analysts quoted in coverage of the order point to the Strait of Hormuz, where diesel supplies remain constrained, as the biggest factor behind the price increases. The roughly 4.8 million tons of diesel Trump described in his deal amounts to about 36 million barrels, or fewer than two weeks of U.S. demand, a figure the senators’ critics have cited to argue the deal offers little relief at the pump.
Rosen’s Record on Russia and Ukraine
Saturday’s post fits a long record. When Russia launched its full-scale invasion in 2022, Rosen declared that “the United States must impose crippling sanctions against Putin and Russia,” and her office noted that she co-sponsored the Defending Ukraine Sovereignty Act and had voted for sanctions targeting the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. She later voted to suspend normal trade relations with Russia and to ban Russian energy imports, saying the United States and its allies needed to “cut off Russia from the global economy.” In a Senate floor speech that year, she urged more security assistance for Ukraine and the transfer of European fighter jets, and called for stronger trade penalties against Moscow.
Rosen is a member of the Senate NATO Observer Group and traveled to Poland and Germany with a bipartisan delegation to see the NATO response to the invasion. More recently, she joined colleagues in introducing the bipartisan bill, negotiated by the late Sen. Graham and the White House, to hold major purchasers of Russian oil and gas accountable for supporting Russia’s war. In June, she introduced a separate bipartisan bill to expand security cooperation between the United States and Ukraine, and she has called for easing restrictions on Ukraine’s use of U.S.-provided weapons. She was also among a bipartisan group of senators who, in a statement over the Christmas holiday, called Putin “a ruthless killer who has no interest in peace and cannot be trusted.”
Rosen on the Iran War and Rising Prices
On the Iran war, Rosen’s record combines support for the military’s goals with insistence on congressional authority. After the war began, she voted for Sen. Tim Kaine’s War Powers Resolution, which failed 47-53 in March. In her statement, she thanked U.S. servicemembers for their work in Operation Epic Fury and said Iran “can never be allowed to obtain a nuclear weapon,” but wrote that only Congress has the authority to declare war and that Americans are “wary of open-ended wars with unclear objectives.” She had also voted in June 2025 to advance a war powers resolution on future offensive attacks on Iran, saying that decision “must be made by Congress.”
Rosen has also tied the war to costs at home. In a July report-based statement, she said Nevadans had paid $514 million more for gasoline, about $460 per household, since the war began. “Nevadans can’t keep footing the bill for Trump’s reckless leadership,” she said, adding that Trump “needs to focus on lowering costs and giving families relief at the pump.” Her office noted that she pushed Trump in March to release oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and has introduced legislation to block tariffs on groceries and agricultural products.
What Comes Next
The waivers remain in effect until the president or the Secretary of State decides otherwise, and the order leaves open the possibility of further tariff action as the trade representative monitors Russian oil purchases. The Treasury license for Russian diesel runs through April 2027. Congress has little direct recourse under the law, which requires the president only to notify lawmakers if he declines to impose the sanctions. With the midterms about two weeks away, Rosen’s post signals that Democrats intend to press the argument that the administration’s Russia policy and the price of fuel are connected.