Senate plows ahead on Russia sanctions

A bipartisan Senate group is prepping a fresh new round of Russia sanctions, per Politico. There are 10 co-sponsors, including Lindsey Graham, Marco Rubio, John McCain, Ben Cardin, Ben Sasse and Rob Portman.

The new sanctions would:

• Freeze assets and impose visa bans on hackers and those deemed to be tied to hackers
• Impose sanctions on bank transactions with the Russian defense and intelligence sectors.
• Put Obama's 2014 Russia sanctions into formal law.
• Ban any recognition of Russian sovereignty over Crimea.
• Authorize $100 million for the U.S. government to counter "fake news," among other provisions.

Why it matters: Trump and his Secretary of State nominee, Rex Tillerson, have signaled they'll be friendlier to Russia than the Obama administration. This is a sign that Trump will have to battle Congress to make that happen.