House Passes 'Russia Sanctions Bill' Giving President Authority to 'Sanction Virtually Anyone, Anywhere In The World'

This was slipped into the Russian sanctions bill on pages 19,20,21. It gives the President broad authority to sanction virtually anyone, anywhere in the world, whether they are connected to Russia or not.

Interventionists at the State Department are doing the happy dance now. pic.twitter.com/eQO9ieVNQd

— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) March 17, 2022

I voted No along with these seven members who also read the bill.@RepBoebert @MattGaetz@RepAndyBiggsAZ@RepMTG@RepDanBishop@ChipRoyTX@RepGrothman

— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) March 17, 2022

On April 15, President Biden signed an Executive Order on Blocking Property with Respect to Specified Harmful Foreign Activities of the Government of the Russian Federation. Contrary to its title, this EO is not about Russia. It is designed to allow the Biden administration to deprive American citizens and organizations of their rights and property by arbitrarily linking those persons to real, imagined, or vaguely defined activities of the Russian government.

The Biden administration unilaterally makes the determination and requires neither criminal acts nor intent. The punishment is blocking assets and a prohibition on any dealing with the accused person. Spouses and adult children of individuals found guilty by accusation under this EO are punished, too.

[...] Section 1 of the EO enumerates prohibited activities and defines guilty persons as those "determined" by the Secretary of Treasury [Janet Yellen] and/or Secretary of State [Antony Blinken] in consultation with the Attorney General [Merrick Garland] to be:

(a)(ii) responsible for or complicit in, or to have directly or indirectly engaged or attempted to engage in, any of the following for or on behalf of, or for the benefit of, directly or indirectly, the Government of the Russian Federation:

(A) malicious cyber-enabled activities;

(B) interference in a United States or other foreign government election;

(C) actions or policies that undermine democratic processes or institutions in the United States or abroad;

(D) transnational corruption;

[...] Biden's new EO is directed mostly at US persons. It criminalizes speech and political activities, based on whimsical and arbitrary definitions. The Biden administration can define "malicious activities," "democratic processes or institutions," and the activities that undermine them as it wants.

The Biden administration is also free to interpret what constitutes "interests of the Russian Government." Such broad and vague language allows the Biden regime to select US citizens and political organizations arbitrarily, and then deprive them of their property and rights without anything reminiscent of due process. The EO does not even require that anybody commit an actual crime somewhere. False cyber-attribution or fake bounty claims are sufficient. Biden's remarks to the EO showed no regard to the culpability of any targeted US citizens or other persons.