Engel vows to check Trump, warns Russia

WASHINGTON: The incoming head of the US House Foreign Affairs Committee warned on Thursday of election-related sanctions against Russia and vowed oversight of Donald Trump’s diplomacy, which he said had made Americans "laughingstocks."

Representative Eliot Engel, who is the presumptive next chairman of the committee after Democrats triumphed in November 6 elections, vowed the new Congress would question the executive branch, a constitutional role he said the Republicans neglected for fear of irritating Trump.

In an interview with AFP in his House office, decorated with pictures of him meeting leaders from Nelson Mandela to the Dalai Lama and namecards of himself in myriad alphabets, the 30-year congressional veteran from New York said he remained outraged at Russia’s actions in the 2016 elections.

Engel said the Democratic-led House is ready to punish Russia if it is determined that the Trump campaign colluded with Moscow, an allegation being probed by special counsel Robert Mueller. "I think if we find out that for sure that we were compromised in our elections, I think there should be, absolutely, sanctions," Engel said.

"I think this is a whole new ballgame because the Congress that we’re leaving was under a lot of pressure with the Republican majority to try to leave the president alone -- not to question, not to ask. And my attitude is that my country is more important than my party," he said.

The Trump administration has taken a number of actions against Russia including expelling 60 officials over the attempted assassination with a chemical agent of a Russian double agent in Britain.

But Trump has repeatedly denounced the Mueller investigation as a "witch hunt" and sought warm relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin, including at a summit in July in Helsinki where the US leader’s tepid public appearance triggered wide rebuke.

Trump later backtracked by saying he had made a grammatical error and had not meant to accept Putin’s denials of electoral interference. Engel, who will enjoy the power to call witnesses from the administration, said he would seek answers on what happened behind closed doors in Helsinki and during other diplomatic meetings by the Trump administration.