GOP Senator: Trump's Russia Diesel Deal May Break the Law
Sen. Thom Tillis says Trump's sanctions relief for Russian diesel may violate a 2022 law barring Russian oil imports, as a bipartisan Senate bloc pushes back on the deal.
Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina said Sunday that President Trump’s deal to accept diesel supplies from Russia may violate federal law, adding a legal challenge from inside the president’s own party to a sanctions-relief arrangement already under bipartisan fire, according to NBC News and Al Jazeera.
“I do believe there’s a legitimate case for saying the president’s not following the law,” Tillis said, per NBC News.
The legal question
Trump announced Friday via Truth Social that Russia would supply diesel to global markets, with the Treasury Department issuing a general license temporarily waiving sanctions on Russian fuel, according to NBC News. Tillis pointed to two statutory obstacles: a 2022 bill, passed unanimously by the Senate, banning Russian oil imports, and a separate measure — named for Sen. Lindsey Graham — that prohibits U.S. investment in Russian energy, according to Al Jazeera. Neither law has been amended by Congress to accommodate the diesel arrangement.
“If the president wants my support,” Tillis said, “the president needs to understand this is a problem,” according to Al Jazeera.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent defended the deal on Fox News, saying the administration would proceed “with all the legal authorities we have,” and argued the arrangement was designed to bring down fuel prices for Americans, according to Al Jazeera. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment, NBC News reported.
A bipartisan bloc, not just Tillis
Tillis is not alone. A group of senators spanning both parties sent a letter denouncing the sanctions relief, including Republicans Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and John Curtis of Utah, alongside Democrats Jeanne Shaheen and Richard Blumenthal, according to Al Jazeera. The cross-party makeup of the letter signals the diesel deal has become one of the few points of friction between the administration and Senate Republicans on Russia policy since the war in Ukraine began.
Canada’s government also objected. The office of Prime Minister Mark Carney said the arrangement “is in direct opposition to the efforts of Ukraine, Canada, and our allies,” according to NBC News.
Where this fits
The diesel deal has already drawn condemnation from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who has called the arrangement an investment in Russia’s war effort rather than a genuine step toward ending it. Russian strikes on Ukrainian territory continued within days of the deal’s announcement, undercutting the administration’s framing of the arrangement as a goodwill gesture tied to broader ceasefire efforts. Trump has separately claimed progress toward an energy ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine, a claim Zelenskyy’s office has disputed.
Tillis’s intervention introduces a different kind of risk for the administration than the diplomatic criticism from Kyiv and Ottawa: a sitting Republican senator publicly questioning whether the president has the legal authority to grant the sanctions waiver at all. Because the 2022 import ban passed the Senate unanimously, it carries bipartisan ownership that makes it harder for the White House to dismiss objections to its use as partisan opposition.
What happens next
Neither Tillis nor the bipartisan letter’s signers have announced legislative action, such as a resolution of disapproval, to formally challenge the sanctions waiver. Treasury has not indicated any change to the general license following the senators’ objections. Congress has not scheduled a vote to amend or reaffirm the 2022 oil-import ban in light of the diesel arrangement.
The administration’s position, as stated by Bessent, is that existing legal authority covers the waiver. Tillis’s position is that it does not. That disagreement is likely to be tested either through congressional action, a legal challenge, or simply through the deal proceeding unchallenged — an outcome that would leave the underlying legal question unresolved even as diesel shipments move forward.
This story will be updated if Congress takes formal action on the sanctions waiver or if the White House issues a response to Tillis’s comments.
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