Washington — President Donald Trump issued a new order on Wednesday authorizing additional sanctions against countries or individuals for interfering in upcoming U.S. elections, but lawmakers of both parties immediately said the effort does not go far enough.

The order would allow Trump to sanction foreigners who interfere in the midterm elections to be held in less than two months. It covers overt efforts to meddle in election infrastructure, such as vote counts, as well as “propaganda” and other attempts to influence voting from abroad, Director of National Intelligence Daniel Coats told reporters.

The harshest sanctions outlined in the order would be up to the president’s discretion.

“This is intended to be a very broad effort to prevent foreign manipulation of the political process,” national security adviser John Bolton said during a briefing on Wednesday.

As The Washington Post first reported in August, the order appears to be an effort to stave off bipartisan legislation that would mandate tough federal action.

Bolton said criticism that Trump had been too deferential to Russia or blinkered in his view of Russian election interference played “zero” role in the new action.

Trump has repeatedly said he wants to combat foreign interference, Bolton said, and the United States has already sanctioned Russian individuals and entities.

“I think his actions speak for themselves,” Bolton said.

Trump has repeatedly called the special counsel investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election a “witch hunt,” and alleged without evidence that the inquiry is “rigged” against him. He has appeared to take Russian President Vladimir Putin’s word that Russia did not interfere on his behalf in the election, most recently when he and the Russian leader met for a widely criticized summit in Helsinki, in July.

Trump also has said he accepts the strong consensus view of U.S. intelligence agencies that Russia did interfere, including through propaganda and falsehoods spread on social media.

But aides have said that Trump’s anger at what he views as a questioning of his surprise election victory over Democrat Hillary Clinton colors his view of the threat to future elections, and slowed down the administration’s planning for this year’s congressional election.

“It has been a touchy subject,” one White House official said last month, when The Post reported on a draft of the executive order.

Congressional pressure for tougher federal defenses against foreign election interference grew following Trump’s July 16 summit and news conference with Putin, when Trump avoided publicly confronting the Russian leader about Moscow’s efforts to influence the election.

Trump instead renewed a demand for an investigation of Clinton’s email practices as secretary of state and noted that Putin had issued an “extremely strong and powerful” denial.

Bolton cast the White House action as a way to strengthen U.S. defenses immediately.