Republican senator says Trump diesel agreement with Russia may be illegal

US President Trump’s bid to bring down diesel prices by easing sanctions on Russia has prompted rare Republican criticism. Save Share United States Senator Thom Tillis has questioned the legality of President Donald Trump’s decision to temporarily relax sanctions onRussian diesel, in an effort to bring down record-high fuel prices caused by the US-Israel war against Iran. During a Sunday interview on the NBC News television show Meet the Press, Tillis argued that the sanctions relief could violate congressional law. “I do believe there’s a legitimate case for saying the president’s not following the law,” said Tillis. Trump’s decisionhas unsettled some Republican lawmakers who continue to support Ukraine in its war with Russia, which began in February 2022, after Moscow launched a full-scale invasion of the eastern European country. Tillis warned that his vote in support of Trump’s legislative priorities would be contingent on the White House reversing course. “If the president wants my support, which I believe he should get for funding military operations and year-end funding beyond baseline funding, I think the president needs to understand this is a problem, and I’m not the only Republican concerned with this,” Tillis said. Tillis has become a critical voice within the Republican Party, denouncing what he sees as overreach from the Trump administration. But his time as a senator is nearly at a close. In June 2025, Tillis announced he would not be seeking re-election in the November 3 midterm elections, after Trump threatened him with a primary challenge in his home state of North Carolina. His term ends in January. Separately on Sunday, Tillis joined a bipartisan group of senators in issuing a letter to denounce the sanctions relief for Russia. The group included Republicans like Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and John Curtis of Utah, as well as Democrats Jeanne Shaheen and Richard Blumenthal. “The United States should not provide [Russian President Vladimir] Putin with a financial lifeline while Russia continues to kill Ukrainian civilians. The Administration must immediately reverse course,” the senators wrote. Another retiring Republican lawmaker, Representative Don Bacon, also said on Friday that “propping up Putin’s war economy is morally wrong as he uses that money to bomb cities”. The pushback points to schisms within the Republican Party over Russia’s invasion....