; Whereas Donald J. Trump responded to the Obama Administration’s sanctions against Russia by announcing, It’s time for our country to move on to bigger and better things. ; Whereas, on January 3, 2017, Donald J. Trump derided intelligence officials who were scheduled to brief him on Russian cyberactivity, suggesting in a tweet that they delayed the briefing because they needed more time to build a case. ; Whereas, on January 4, 2017, Donald J. Trump attempted to discredit the intelligence community’s conclusions by quoting WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in a tweet; Whereas Donald J. Trump praised Russian President Vladimir Putin following the latter’s announcement that he would not oust American diplomats in response to President Obama’s decision to expel 35 Russian government officials, saying in a tweet, I always knew he was smart! ; Whereas Sean Spicer, Donald J. Trump’s press secretary, said on January 2, 2017, There is zero evidence that they influenced the election. ; Whereas Sean Spicer also said there should be more focus on punishing Hillary Clinton instead of Russia’s cyber activities; Whereas Donald J. Trump praised Vladimir Putin for sending him a Christmas greeting, which he called, A very nice letter from Vladimir Putin. ; Whereas Donald J. Trump has surrounded himself with advisors who have extensive ties with the Russian government; Whereas Paul Manafort, Donald J. Trump’s former campaign manager, was a paid lobbyist for Viktor Yanukovych, the pro-Russian politician in Ukraine who fled to Russia in 2014 and was subjected to United States sanctions related to Russian aggression in Ukraine, and Manafort has also been involved in multimillion dollar business deals with Russian and Ukrainian oligarchs, which reportedly were the subject of an inquiry by the Federal Bureau of Investigation