Trump has no choice but to accept sanctions against Russia: Bill Browder

Jabin Botsford | The Washington Post | Getty Images

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign event at the Jacksonville Equestrian Center in Jacksonville, FL on Thursday November 03, 2016.

Anthony Scaramucci, the president’s new communications director, told CNN on Thursday that Trump “may sign the sanctions exactly the way they are, or he may veto the sanctions and negotiate an even tougher deal against the Russians.”

The bill passed the House of Representatives with overwhelming support, receiving 419 votes in support and only three votes against. The Senate passed an earlier version of the bill 98 to 2 in June.

But even if Trump wanted to veto the sanctions bill, Browder said he would be stopped by Congress.

“It’s a powerful piece of legislation, it really tells Putin what we think of him, and effectively the president doesn’t have much of a choice here,” Browder said, explaining that Congress will have the support to override a presidential veto “without any problem.”

The Magnitsky Act came up last month when it was revealed that Donald Trump Jr. and a number of senior Trump campaign officials met with a Russian lawyer in June 2016 in search of damaging information about then-candidate for president Hillary Clinton.

Browder recently told CNBC that he has known the lawyer, Natalia Veselnitskaya, as “an adversary for three years,” and described her role in the Russian government as being “on a mission to undo the Magnitsky Act.”

Browder was once the largest foreign investor in Russia, but has been blacklisted and allegedly threatened after withdrawing his business from the country.

“The Russians, as you know, are out to get me, they’re out to kill me, they have threatened to kill me,” Browder said, “but today is no different than any other day.”