House Speaker Ryan: US Sanctions Against Russia Should Stay

U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan said on Friday the United States should keep its sanctions against Russia, amid speculation that President Donald Trump may lift the punitive measures imposed under former President Barack Obama.

"I think Obama was late in putting them in place, so I think they should stay," Ryan said in an interview with Politico.

Ryan, the top Republican in the U.S. Congress, was responding to a question about comments by Republican Senator John McCain that if Trump lifted the restrictions, he would work to "codify sanctions against Russia into law."