Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, on Saturday condemned President Donald Trump’s order waiving sanctions and tariffs under a new Russia sanctions law, calling it an “unconscionable capitulation to a Russian dictator who illegally invaded Ukraine and butchers innocent civilians.” She made the remarks in a post on X.
Trump signed the executive order on Oct. 16. It waives the duties in sections 112 and 113 of the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026 and the sanctions and restrictions in sections 102(a), 102(d), 102(e), 103 through 111 and 117 of the law.
The order says Trump sent Congress a certification that the waivers are “in the national interests of the United States,” as section 115 of the law requires. It says the waivers stay in effect until the president or the secretary of state decides “further action is appropriate.”
The order also says it does not affect sanctions imposed under earlier executive orders tied to the national emergency on Russia, including on people already sanctioned under those orders.
The law, H.R. 5334, became Public Law 119-111 on Sept. 18. The Senate passed it 86-11 on Aug. 7, according to the Senate roll call. On Sept. 16 the House agreed to the Senate amendments 262-159, with Republicans voting 203-7 and Democrats 58-152, House Clerk records show.
The law would have put a 500% duty on goods from Russia. It would also have added 100% duties on goods from the five largest buyers of Russian oil and gas that make new purchases on or after Oct. 18, and from the top five countries helping Russia evade oil sanctions. All of those duties are covered by the waiver.
“On October 16, 2019, I told Donald Trump, ‘With you, Mr. President, all roads lead to Putin,’” Pelosi wrote. She attached a photo of a 2019 Cabinet Room meeting.
Pelosi wrote that the decision “insults America’s commitment to democracy and our brave men and women in uniform, as Russia helps Iran target American forces.” She also asked, “What does Putin have on Trump that he would sell out America’s values?”
Pelosi wrote that she joins “Republican senators” in condemning the move. Her wording echoes a post by Republican Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina, who called the waiver “beyond irresponsible” and wrote that “this administration is capitulating to a Russian dictator who illegally invaded Ukraine and butchers innocent civilians every single day.”
Republican Senator John Cornyn of Texas wrote, “Lindsey would be appalled,” referring to the late Senator Lindsey Graham, the law’s namesake.
Administration officials defended the move. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said, in a clip posted by the State Department, that the president “wants to take this 60-day period to analyze what imposing both sanctions and tariffs will mean for the global economy and the U.S. economy.”
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that “no one has been tougher on Russian sanctions than President Trump,” in a clip posted by the White House’s Rapid Response account. Republican Representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky, one of the seven House Republicans who voted no, wrote that he was “glad to see Trump has used the executive authority granted to him by Congress” to waive most of the law’s Russia provisions.
Pelosi’s claims that Russia “helps Iran target American forces” and that Putin has leverage over Trump are her own characterizations. Neither the executive order nor the law’s record reviewed for this article addresses them. The order sets no 60-day limit; the 60-day timeframe is Rubio’s. The national-interest report the order says was sent to Congress has not been posted with it. Pelosi’s 2019 wording also differs from the record: her office’s Oct. 17, 2019, press conference transcript quotes her as saying she told Trump “all roads seem to lead to Putin,” not the exact line in her post.