Oct 11 (Reuters) - Republican US Senator Thom Tillis on Sunday said President Donald Trump's diesel supply deal with Russia may be illegal and will put American lives at risk, adding to bipartisan criticism of the arrangement announced by the president on Friday.
Trump saidthat Russia had agreed to supply diesel to global markets, and his administration temporarily lifted US sanctions on Russian fuel that were designed to deprive Moscow of revenue for its war on Ukraine.
“I do believe there’s a legitimate case for saying the president’s not following the law,” said Tillis, an influential Republican from North Carolina who is retiring from the Senate at the end of his term in January.
Prices for diesel — used for agriculture, heating homes and trucking — are near record highs and could hurt Trump's fellow Republicans in next month's congressional elections that will determine whether they maintain their thin majorities in Congress.
Analysts have said Trump's agreement with Moscow was unlikely to lead to sustained lower fuel prices.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Fox News on Sunday that the Trump administration will follow through with the deal using existing legal authority, adding that the agreement was good for the American people and would bring prices down.
"We're going to do it with all the legal authorities we have. So, you know, anyone in Congress who says whether it's an old bill or the current Lindsey Graham bill (that) prohibits us from doing it is wrong," Bessent told the "Fox & Friends" program.
Trump last month signed a sweeping Russia sanctions bill into law, called the "Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026," to honor the South Carolina Republican who died in July. Graham, a longtime Russia hawk, was a staunch backer of the legislation.
Tillis is not the first Republican to criticize the deal. Retiring Representative Don Bacon of Nebraska said on X on Friday that "propping up Putin’s war economy is morally wrong as he uses that money to bomb cities."
Mike Pence, Trump's former vicepresident,called his decision to lift sanctions on Russian oil a "betrayal" of Graham’s legacy and urged the president to "rescind" it.
"The president's actions and his comments over the last 24 hours are the exact opposite of the intent of that bill," Tillis said, adding, "I will guarantee you at the first opportunity (Russian President Vladimir) Putin has to embarrass or undermine President Trump, he will."
As Trump's poll numbers have cratered, congressional Republicans have increasingly distanced themselves from the president, on matters ranging from the conflict in Iran to the trade war with Canada.
The Senate's No. 2 Republican, John Barrasso of Wyoming, defended the diesel deal on Sunday, telling CBS' "Face the Nation" that Trump is focused on bringing costs down for consumers, ranchers, farmers and truckers.
"The president is balancing and has to make tough decisions," Barrasso said.
(Reporting by Jan Wolfe and Ismail Shakil; Editing by Jesse Mesner-Hage, Susan Fenton and Bill Berkrot)
