WASHINGTON—President Trump wanted a final gut check before taking his hardest move yet against Russian President Vladimir Putin. “Do you guys agree with me?” he asked top advisers in the Oval Office on Wednesday.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said yes, according to a person familiar with the meeting Wednesday afternoon. Hours earlier Trump had met with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and told him to prepare a slate of sanctions on Russia’s oil industry, marking the first direct U.S. measures on Russia during the second Trump administration.
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