New Anti-Russian Sanctions 'Attempt to Delegitimize Trump's Presidency'

“This is part of the operation which started with the accusation suggesting that Russia somehow hacked the election and gave it to Donald Trump, so in American parlance this is doubling down. This is making things sound even worse,” Rappoport said.

He further said that Russia is being cast as the super villain now with these sanctions and expulsions to bolster the claim that originally began as a much hyped story in the American press starting with the Washington Post that Russia actually influenced the election to the degree that Hillary Clinton lost and Donald Trump won.

“The time is very significant because we are talking about the inauguration of the next president of the United States. So this is yet a further attempt by implication to delegitimize Trump as the actual president,” the author said.

He further spoke about plans underway in Washington DC to disrupt the inauguration ceremony starting perhaps a week before.

“There are various groups being organized and they want to establish a gigantic presence in Washington DC perhaps block entrances into the city and commit all kinds of civil disobedience to disrupt the inauguration ceremony itself and that is going to be followed by massive demonstrations and collection of people the following day in Washington,” the author said.

According to Rappoport, further sanctions against Russia are also part of this disruptive campaign.

Talking about the allegations against Russia, the author said that, “The whole thing does not have a specific evidence of Russian influence and independent media outlets are repeating this time and time again.”

“They are likening this to the Collin Powell announcement that there were significant and irrefutable evidence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq prior to the invasion of Iraq. But in fact it turned out to be completely false claim,” Rappoport said.

He further spoke about how the Democrats and those Republicans who are against Trump will continue to try and derail the process of inauguration.

However, talking about the US president-elect, the author said that, “Trump is smart enough as a business man to know that he has to put together a string of victories immediately, to build up a momentum. So I would assume that one of the first things he is going to do is cancel decisively a number of Obama executive orders that Obama put into effect during his presidency.”

According to the author right after that, Trump will make announcements of more jobs coming back into the United States because that is his playing card from the beginning.

The latest measures add up to the string of sanctions that the United States imposed against Russia in less than one month. Earlier in December, Washington expelled 35 Russian diplomats from the US as well as sanctioned six Russian individuals and five entities over hacking allegations.

The US Congress passed the Magnitsky Act in 2012, which allows Washington to deny visas and freeze the assets of Russian officials allegedly involved in the death of Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky.

President Barack Obama expanded the Act globally when he signed the 2017 Defense Department budget last year.

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