Schumer: ‘Trump just gave Putin the best birthday gift he’ll get this year’

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) accused President Trump on Saturday of giving Russian President Vladimir Putin “the best birthday gift” after he waived new sanctions on Russia days before they were set to take effect.

“By giving the Russian economy life support Trump’s deal with the devil keeps getting dirtier,” Schumer wrote in a post on the social platform X . “There’s nothing America First about Trump caving in to Putin and exempting Russia from US sanctions.”

A sweeping legislative package Trump signed into law last month would have imposed tariffs up to 100 percent on the top five purchasers of Russian fuel. The president’s Friday night executive order puts those sanctions on hold.

The move follows Trump’s decision last week to lift sanctions on Russian diesel products, allowing the country to “immediately” export 300,000 tons to the U.S. and the greater world economy amid global fuel shortages. The deal drew swift bipartisan pushback .

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said these relief actions will further endanger his citizens, as Ukraine continues to fight back in a yearslong war against Russia.

On Saturday, the Ukrainian leader warned the “sanctions relief will continue” in a social media post .

Zelensky mourned the loss of the late Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who the Russian sanctions package was named after and who pushed for more U.S. support to Ukraine during the war effort.

“It’s difficult without him, I’ll be honest,” Zelensky wrote. “I want to thank both Democrats and Republicans who supported his bill. That was a major victory: this truly bipartisan support.

“And now, the decision to undo all of this, to block all of it, seems wrong to me,” he continued. “And it definitely helps only the Russians. It only fuels their satisfaction and their desire to keep killing people. This certainly does not stop the war.”

Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.), the top Democrat on Congress’s Joint Economic Committee, expressed his disapproval with the president’s new executive order in a statement released by his office late Friday evening.

“Trump’s latest surrender to Putin again betrays our Ukrainian partners and defies clear congressional intent of legislation designed to punish Russia for its illegal war of aggression,” Beyer said.

“Trump has proven he will twist this law and abuse the powers it conferred on him, and while he has let the tariff powers lie for the moment, the law as written also empowers Trump to weaponize new trade authorities against our allies and trading partners,” the Democrat continued. “Congress must fix this flawed law to stop Trump from capitulating to Putin and ensure it truly supports Ukraine.”

Several Republican lawmakers also joined in on criticizing this relief, with retiring Texas Sen. John Cornyn posting on social media that “Lindsey would be appalled,” in reference to his late Republican colleague from South Carolina.

Outgoing Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), a frequent critic of the Trump administration, called the relief “beyond irresponsible” in a statement shared on social media.

“It’s unconscionable that this administration is capitulating to a Russian dictator who illegally invaded Ukraine and butchers innocent civilians every single day,” Tillis said. “If the President wants to actually bring down energy prices, he can do it by solving the Iran problem, not by doing a solid for Vladimir Putin.”