Exxon Mobil Corp. won’t be allowed to bypass U.S. sanctions against Russia to resume drilling for oil in a joint venture that seeks to tap billions of barrels of that country’s crude. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the decision was made after consultation with President Donald Trump, according to a statement on Friday. Exxon initially requested the drilling waiver in 2015 and pushed for approval every few months since then, according to a person with knowledge of the matter who wasn’t authorized to speak publicly. The waiver request drew criticism from a cross-section of leading U.S. policymakers, from Republican Senator John McCain, who wondered in a tweet whether Exxon was “crazy,” to Senator Bob Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat and sanctions hardliner who sits on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “We understand the statement today by Secretary Mnuchin in consultation with President Trump,” Alan Jeffers, an Exxon spokesman, said […]