President-elect Donald Trump could reverse President Barack Obama’s sweeping new sanctions against Moscow that included the expulsion of 35 Russian diplomats, officials say.
“If a future president decided he wanted to allow in a large tranche of Russian intelligence agents, presumably a future president could do that,” a senior Obama administration official said during a press call on Thursday.
“We don’t think it would make much sense to reopen Russian intelligence compounds,” the official added. “We don’t think it makes much sense to invite back in Russian intelligence agents.”
As part of retaliation for alleged Russian efforts to interfere with the US presidential election, Obama ordered the expulsion of 35 diplomats from the Russian embassy in Washington and closing down of two Russian facilities in the United States.
The US intelligence community has concluded that Russia targeted Democratic political organizations and Hillary…