Lankford Backs Russia Diesel Deal, Breaks With Armstrong
The lankford russia diesel deal defense came Sunday morning on NBC’s Meet the Press, where Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) backed President Donald Trump’s agreement to import Russian diesel fuel — splitting with fellow Oklahoma Sen. Alan Armstrong, who signed a bipartisan letter demanding the deal be scrapped.
A “Fine Balance”
Lankford said Trump is walking a “fine balance” between keeping pressure on Russia and delivering relief to American families, after the president waived the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act and struck the diesel arrangement with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The senator also insisted Trump is “siding with Ukraine, even if they don’t always agree,” framing the diesel deal as leverage in the president’s effort to facilitate negotiations between Russia and Ukraine.
Armstrong’s Bipartisan Letter
Armstrong stands on the opposite side of the fight. On October 13, he joined 11 other senators — including GOP Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and fellow Republicans Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Thom Tillis and John Cornyn, alongside six Democrats — urging Trump to withdraw from the diesel agreement and rescind the Treasury Department’s General License No. 135, which permits the Russian diesel imports.
“However, allowing Russian-origin diesel into global markets will offer limited to no relief to Americans,” the senators wrote. “The revenues the Kremlin will receive from this agreement will undoubtedly finance its desired war of attrition and advance its security cooperation with China, Iran, and North Korea.”
Fellow Republican Thom Tillis also told Meet the Press there is a “legitimate case” that the president is “not following the law” if the administration proceeds with the diesel purchases.
Record Prices, Record Skepticism
The clash comes as American diesel prices sit at record highs. AAA reported Oklahoma’s average at $5.91 a gallon on Oct. 16, up 82 percent from a year earlier, with 48 states setting new diesel price records this year.
Trump announced the deal Oct. 9 after a phone call with Putin, saying Russia would immediately supply more than 300,000 tons of diesel, followed by 500,000 tons in November, then a million tons and eventually three million tons more. Analysts cited in US media say the promised volume amounts to roughly a single day of global demand, calling its effect on American pump prices negligible.
Source: The Oklahoman