WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Friday signed an executive order that puts on hold a sweeping new sanctions package targeting the Russian economy, telling Congress the pause was in the national interest.
Trump personally signed the legislation just last month. Named after late South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, it had sought to clamp down more quickly on the flow of financial resources fueling the war against Ukraine.
Trump's unexpected move comes a week after he stunningly said the U.S. had agreed to purchase diesel from Russia to try to bring down global energy prices, despite that potentially hurting Ukraine in its war with Russia.
An AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll published Oct. 1 found that Americans disapprove of the president's handling of the Iran war and blame him for higher prices. Trump's approval ratings have sunk to near-historic lows and pressure is mounting as Republicans try to hold control of both chambers of Congress on Election Day on Nov. 3.
Graham, a close ally and friend of the president, had just returned from Ukraine when he unexpectedly died in July. He had advocated for stricter U.S. sanctions against Russia as a way of pressuring it to end its war in Ukraine.
His colleagues in Congress responded with bipartisan support after his death and Trump attached his signature to the legislation — then changed his mind Friday.
The package had been meant to starve Putin of the resources Moscow needs to continue its war in Ukraine after invading its neighbor more than four years ago. The bill, also drafted by Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., sanctions Russian officials, banks and a shadow fleet of tankers that keeps Russian energy moving.
It also directs Trump to impose up to 100% tariffs on the top five importers of Russian oil or natural gas, with an exception for countries that import less than 15% of Russia’s natural gas exports and have taken significant steps to reduce those imports.
The White House did not immediately explain how pausing the sanctions was in the national interest. The decision was posted on the White House website late in the evening, and the notification noted that the report explaining the decision had been submitted to Congress.
Still, it comes as Trump has increasingly lashed out at Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, blaming him for failing to make a deal with Putin to end the fighting.
The Trump administration, meanwhile, had remained mostly quiet since the passage of the bill with large majorities in the House and Senate following Graham’s sudden death — with lawmakers urged ahead by Zelenskyy.
The president's latest action also followed him announcing last week that he had reached an agreement with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Trump said Russia will immediately supply more than 300,000 tons of diesel, followed by an additional 500,000 tons in November and 1 million tons “immediately thereafter.” Russia will deliver an additional 3 million tons “within a short period of time” after that, he wrote.
Trump’s decision to strike a deal with Putin on diesel on the world market has been pilloried by Republicans and Democrats alike who say it will help Russia execute its war against Ukraine -- without making a different to global fuel prices, which are elevated mostly due to Trump’s war on Iran.
The sanctions that Trump has now suspended, meanwhile, also had become a campaign centerpiece for Sen. Darline Graham, the late senator’s sister who was appointed to serve out the remaining months in his current term. She is now running to replace him in the Senate more permanently.
Darline Graham said in a statement after Trump signed the bill, “I wish Lindsey were here to celebrate this historic day." In a debate earlier this week with Democratic nominee Annie Andrews, Graham — who has Trump’s endorsement and is expected to campaign with him in South Carolina next week — said she had been “so proud” to help get the measure passed.
She acknowledged, however, that it was the president’s purview as to how he implemented it.
“It gives the president tools that he can use if he so chooses, to end the war through economic sanctions,” Graham said Sunday during a debate in Columbia. “So that’s up to him as to whether or not he wants to use it, or whether he wants to use something else, but I think the purpose of it is to bring down the gas prices and ultimately end the war. And when the war ends, gas prices will fall.”
President Donald Trump speaks at a dinner at his Mar-a-Lago club, Friday, Oct. 16, 2026, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
President Donald Trump walks from Marine One to board Air Force One, Friday, Oct. 16, 2026, at Dobbins Air Reserve Base, Ga. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
BEND, Ore. (AP) — A teacher threw her phone at the teenage gunman who killed four people at an Oregon elementary school, then tackled and fought with him — likely saving lives before he was shot by a father who followed him into the building, police said Friday.
City of Bend Police Chief Mike Krantz called the teacher's actions “heroic” during a news conference and said she was not injured. He identified the attacker as 16-year-old Griffin J. John II and said all of the victims were shot in the same classroom.
John was once a special needs student at Silver Rail Elementary, authorities said, and he attacked a classroom with special needs students. He fired as many as 15 shots from a 12-gauge shotgun and had about 44 rounds remaining when he was killed, Krantz said.
“Everyone wants to know why, including us,” he said. “We may never get that full answer, but we want it.”
Investigators are trying to determine how the shooter obtained the pump-action shotgun, Krantz added.
A law enforcement official briefed on the shooting told The Associated Press it was bought by his mother. The official spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the investigation.
The attacker’s mother, Shauntai Nickerson, told reporters outside her apartment near the school that if she could have done something to prevent the shooting, she would have.
“I miss my boy,” Nickerson said, sobbing and crying, according to The New York Times and CNN. “I’m so sorry, I wish I could have done something. I’m sorry for their loss.”
She declined to say how the 16-year-old obtained the pump-action shotgun and didn’t comment further when The Associated Press and other outlets knocked on her apartment door later.
In a 2020 interview with the local news station KTVZ, Nickerson identified the boy, then 10, as a participant in a special needs program run by the school district. It was called NEST, for Nurturing Empathy, Safety and Trust, and aimed at helping students experiencing intensive behavioral and social skill challenges. Nickerson said he struggled trying to learn from home during the pandemic.
The first 911 call came from the driver of a red pickup truck early Thursday afternoon who saw the boy throw his gun over a fence outside the school and then climb over it, Krantz said. The driver yelled at the boy, who fired at him, striking the truck three times. The driver was not injured.
A second driver, Kaylub Giamanco, a 36-year-old man whose children attend Silver Rail, saw John shooting at the truck and heading toward the school, where he shot through locked doors to get inside. Giamanco pulled into the parking lot, grabbed his .40-caliber pistol and followed the attacker inside. He saw John wrestling with the teacher and shot him several times.
Three children — ages 5, 8 and 11 — and teacher Megan Lambert, 25, were killed, police said. A 7-year-old child who was injured received lifesaving care at the scene and is now hospitalized, as is 54-year-old teacher Becky Drury, who her family said was shot in the arm and hand and was recovering from surgery.
There were no other children in the classroom, authorities said.
The youngest victim, Rhoam Summer, was a fearless climber and a fast runner who loved reading, his aunt Swan Sheridan said Friday.
“He never met a stuffie that he didn’t think needed to be rescued and cared for,” she said.
In a statement read to reporters Friday, Giamanco's mother, Kenda Freeman, identified him as the person who shot the gunman. She said he is the father of two girls at the school.
“He is not seeking recognition, but instead wishes to express his gratitude to the first responders, school personnel and community for the outpouring of love and support,” Freeman said.
She said her family was asking for privacy “during this difficult time.”
Silver Rail Elementary has students in kindergarten through fifth grade, with about 450 enrolled last year.
Classes and all other activities were canceled Friday for schools across Bend, a mountain-ringed city of about 100,000 that has become a tourism and outdoor recreation hub in central Oregon.
The shooting was the 28th mass killing in the U.S. this year, according to a database maintained by The Associated Press and USA Today in partnership with Northeastern University.
President Donald Trump on Friday praised the man who stopped the gunman, calling him a “great hero" who he said “took care of business.”
“It’s a terrible thing, but thank goodness for a man that had a gun and knew how to use it,” Trump told reporters at the White House, adding the tragedy likely would have been much worse.
Memorials with flowers, balloons and stuffed animals popped up around the school, which sits in a densely packed neighborhood filled with newly built homes.
Brooke Olsen, whose daughter is a kindergartner at Silver Rail, said she was amazed that someone pursued the shooter.
“I think it’s miraculous that someone was there before law enforcement even arrived to stop further tragedy from happening," Olsen said Friday, weeping at times. "I’m feeling very grateful.”
This story has been updated to correct the name of the teacher killed Thursday. She is Megan Lambert, not Meghan Lambert as police originally reported.
Associated Press reporters Alanna Durkin Richer, Eric Tucker and Ben Finley in Washington; Jamie Stengle in Dallas; Ed White in Detroit; Philip Marcelo in New York; and John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio, contributed.
Kristen Vanetsky sits outside Silver Rail Elementary in Bend, Ore., Friday, Oct. 16, 2026, a day after a deadly shooting. (AP Photo/Joe Kline)
Flowers and candles are seen at a makeshift memorial outside Silver Rail Elementary in Bend, Ore., Friday, Oct. 16, 2026, a day after a deadly shooting. (AP Photo/Joe Kline)
Children place flowers at a makeshift memorial outside Silver Rail Elementary in Bend, Ore., Friday, Oct. 16, 2026, a day after a deadly shooting. (AP Photo/Joe Kline)
People leave a family meeting area following a shooting at Silver Rail Elementary School, Thursday, Oct. 15, 2026, in Bend, Ore. (AP Photo/Joe Kline)
Dara Crawford cries during a candlelight vigil at Drake Park following a deadly shooting at Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, Ore. on Thursday, Oct. 15, 2026. (Eli Imadali/Oregon Public Broadcasting via AP)
A person places flowers at a makeshift memorial on the other side of Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, Ore., on Friday, Oct. 16, 2026, a day after a deadly shooting. (AP Photo/Haven Daley)
Flowers are placed beside a sign at Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, Ore., on Friday, Oct. 16, 2026, a day after a deadly shooting. (AP Photo/Haven Daley)
A person places flowers at a makeshift memorial on the other side of Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, Ore., on Friday, Oct. 16, 2026, a day after a deadly shooting. (AP Photo/Haven Daley)
