The courtroom sideshow with Michael Cohen diverted attention from what should have been a much bigger story yesterday.  Donald Trump is delaying sanctions against Russia.  This comes after Nikki Haley, the U.N. Ambassador announced them to the world on Sunday.  The sanctions were supposed to be for Russia’s support of the Syrian dictator Assad.  Remember it was just over a week ago that Trump promised there would be “a big price to pay” for Putin backing Assad.

What’s going on?  From the Washington Post:

  • “Sometime after Haley’s comments on CBS, the Trump administration notified the Russian Embassy in Washington that the sanctions were not in fact coming, a Russian Foreign Ministry official said Monday.
  • The Trump team decided to publicly characterize Haley’s announcement as a misstatement. White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement Monday: “We are considering additional sanctions on Russia and a decision will be made in the near future.”

Democrats were quick to pounce:

“Russia is aiding and abetting a mass murderer, and there should be consequences. There shouldn’t be any hesitation to apply new sanctions, which are necessary to send a message to the Kremlin that their reckless support for Assad’s brutality will not be tolerated.”–Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.)