Trump signs order for sanctions against foreigners who meddle in polls

President Donald Trump talks about Hurricane Florence following a briefing in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington Tuesday Sept. 11 2018

But the executive branch, including the President, will have the final say in whether sanctions will be applies.

"Today, I took action to protect the integrity of the United States electoral system by signing an executive order to ensure that we can swiftly identify and punish any foreign interference in our elections".

As The Washington Post first reported in August, the order appears to be an effort to stave off bipartisan legislation that would mandate tough federal action.

U.S. Senator Marco Rubio and Chris Van Hollen said in a joint statement on Wednesday that the newly-signed order "recognizes the threat, but does not go far enough to address it".

"There has been no evidence of a foreign power altering the outcome or vote tabulation in any United States election", Trump said in a statement, nevertheless adding that "We're going to take strong action to secure our election systems and the process".

"I think his actions speak for themselves", he said. Russian Federation denies meddling and Trump has dismissed the probe as a "witch hunt".

Meanwhile, the Trump administration has been attacked by USA lawmakers for not being tough enough against Russian Federation after the US intelligence community concluded that Moscow has influenced the 2016 elections.

The 2018 US midterms are less than two months away and authorities are pre-empting foreign attacks on the elections based on USA intelligence.

That this announcement came first as a leak to U.S. news outlets and then as an announcement from National Security Advisor John Bolton underlines how fraught a subject it is for this particular White House. Instead, he delivered a rambling response, including demands for investigation of Hillary Clinton's email server and his description of Putin's "extremely strong and powerful" denial of meddling.

US imposes North Korea-related sanctions on Russian, Chinese tech firms
The new sanctions target Russian-based Volasys Silver Star and China-based Yanbian Silverstar Network Technology Co, the U.S. The State and Treasury departments would decide on appropriate additional sanctions to recommend and impose, he said.

"The White House has oversight".

"We felt it was important to demonstrate the president had taken command of this issue".

Bolton said the order is not focused on any particular country, because threats to elections come from many different countries and entities.

A wide variety of additional sanctions could be imposed under certain conditions. He said the order also directs intelligence officials to conduct an assessment after elections to inform the public about what might have occurred.

Amid serious backlash from both sides of the aisle, the Republican president later explained that he "misspoke" and said he had "great confidence" in United States intelligence. Last week, executives from Facebook and Twitter testified before the Senate intelligence committee about Russian interference. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) said the move "won't substitute for mandatory sanctions required by law" and shouldn't be used to blunt congressional momentum on the issue.

Coats warned last month that Russian Federation is trying to interfere in the 2018 midterm elections.

Coats told reporters Wednesday the intelligence community has seen "signs" of interference attempts from China, Iran and North Korea.

"We have not seen the intensity of what happened in 2016, but as I have said ... it is only a keyboard click away", Mr. Coats said. "That means providing states with the funds they need, and pressing Republicans in Congress to pass legislation - like the Election Security Act - that makes meaningful improvements to our election infrastructure", the three Democrats said. Russian entities have not targeted those systems to the degree they did in 2016, Coats said Wednesday.

Related News:

16 September 2018

Hurricane Florence: What storm surge could look like on East Coast
And while the 2,000-plus cancellations from Florence is significant, it's far below what fliers have faced in other major storms. Hurricane expert Dr Rick Knabb warns: "Yes good news that intensity of Florence has come down, to lessen wind damage somewhat".

16 September 2018

Hurricane Florence starts flooding parts of the Carolinas
By midnight, areas of coastal North Carolina were experiencing life-threatening storm surge, the National Weather Service said. People look out over the surf before Hurricane Florence comes ashore on Carolina Beach, North Carolina on September 13, 2018.

15 September 2018

Gary Neville Defends Himself Following Jurgen Klopp Criticism
Klopp though, is likely to stick with his strongest side when they pay a visit to Tottenham . The former Chelsea ace has netted twice and chipped in with one assist this time out.
16 September 2018

Relentless Liverpool sweep aside Tottenham to stay top
It is not about playing well, it is about attitude and to say, "Hey, come on, we are aggressive and we try to win". Now we won a few games, that's good, but it doesn't change anything for us.

15 September 2018

Powers cite need for peace in Idlib — UN official
Turkey has also gathered forces on its own borders to deter Syrian civilians fleeing the fighting. UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura at a meeting in Geneva on September 14, 2018.

15 September 2018

Track Hurricane Florence With These Tools
He said parts of North Carolina had seen storm surges - the bulge of seawater pushed ashore by the hurricane - as high as 10 feet. North Carolina's Emergency Management tweeted that more than 154,000 homes were already without electricity by late Thursday.
16 September 2018

Turkey CB Delivers Massive Rate Hike Despite Erdogan's Calls For Cut
USA crude fell 0.41 percent to $68.31 per barrel and Brent was last at $77.79, down 0.5 percent on the day. The Central Bank of Turkey surprised positively today by hiking the 1-week repo rate by 625 basis points.

15 September 2018

Lloris handed driving ban, fined after pleading guilty in court
Spurs will be missing Hugo Lloris and Dele Alli for Saturday's Premier League clash against Liverpool at Wembley Stadium. A team spokesman said before the sentencing that Tottenham were treating the entire matter "extremely seriously".

15 September 2018

Terry's Chelsea return down to him, says Sarri
Chelsea boss Maurizio Sarri says he would like John Terry back at the club in a coaching role. Similar to my name. 'We can improve and that's what I feel in training'.
Mother and Infant Among First Reported Fatalities as Hurricane Florence Makes Landfall
Wilmington Police confirmed that a mother and her infant died when a tree fell on their home. A town spokesman said between 60 and 75 people were awaiting rescue on Saturday.

15 September 2018

Pope Francis Summons Bishops for Sex Abuse Summit
The head of the Catholic church said the devil "had it in" for bishops "in order to scandalise the people". The pope is scheduled to meet with Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, president of the U.S.

15 September 2018

3 new iPhones Xs, Xs Max & Xr and launched at Apple event
While global smartphone market growth has stalled, Apple has kept revenue rising by lifting average selling prices. The models would be sold through 2,500 retail outlets of the company across the country, a press release said.