President Trump signed an executive order Wednesday authorizing additional sanctions against any foreign entities found to have interfered in U.S. elections — but lawmakers on both sides of the aisle were quick to note the effort isn’t hawkish enough.

The order, which comes weeks before the congressional midterms, directs the U.S. intelligence community to flag foreign individuals, organizations and governments that spread propaganda and disinformation or carry out other election-related influence or hacking campaigns.

The Justice and Treasury departments will in turn impose relevant sanctions against those entities.

“This clearly is a process put in place to try to assure that we are doing every possible thing we can to prevent any interference in our election, to report on anything we see between now and the election,” Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats told reporters.


Coats added that the order mandates the intelligence community to conduct an assessment after the midterms to inform the public about what type of interference may have occurred.

The order comes amid widespread criticism that Trump has not taken the threat of foreign election interference seriously, particularly as it relates to the Kremlin’s meddling in the 2016 race.

Coats and National Security Adviser Bolton contended the latest measure proves Trump is making election security a priority.

Some lawmakers begged to differ.


“Today’s announcement by the administration recognized the threat, but does not go far enough to address it,” Sens. Marco Rubio and Chris Van Hollen said in a statement. “The United States can and must do more.”

Rubio (R-Fla.) and Van Hollen (D-Md.) introduced a bill this year meant to deter election interference by imposing mandatory sanctions against anyone found to have attacked “our electoral system.”

“We must make sure Vladimir Putin’s Russia, or any other foreign actor, understands that we will respond decisively and impose punishing consequences against those who interfere in our democracy,” Rubio and Van Hollen continued. “With only 55 days until the midterm elections, we urge our colleagues to send a clear and unified message to our adversaries by quickly passing this legislation.”

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer took issue with the fact that the order’s harshest sanctions need Trump’s approval before they can be implemented.


“Given what Trump did in Helsinki, giving himself the option of levying tough sanctions is hardly reassuring,” Schumer (D-N.Y.) tweeted, referencing Trump’s controversial press conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Finish capital in July.

Asked during the appearance if he denounces the Kremlin’s attack on the 2016 election and would warn Putin to never do it again, Trump suggested he trusted the Russian leader’s “extremely strong and powerful” denial over his own intelligence community’s unanimous conclusion.

“He just said it’s not Russia,” Trump said of Putin. “I will say this: I don’t see any reason why it would be.”

Russia’s multifaceted 2016 interference efforts were carried out in a deliberate attempt to boost Trump’s chances and disparage Hillary Clinton’s campaign, according to the U.S. intelligence community.


Coats and Bolton said the Russian threat has not intensified in the same way that it did in the leadup to the 2016 election, but didn’t rule out the possibility it could change. The U.S. is also concerned about hostile cyberactivities from China, North Korea and Iran, the two intelligence officials said.