Russia Sanctions Humiliate Hillary

I've been trying to find a logical reason for the Congressional vote for the extreme action of imposing sanctions on Russia.

Sanction supporters talk about what they call "fake news",but the term is just another word for propaganda which governments produce all  the time.  We didn't impose sanctions on the British government for its "fake news" stories about Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq.

Russian spying on candidates cannot justify sanctions because spying on political figures is  a common  government activity.  Besides the CIA had already infiltrated the Russian hackers who were the alleged spies.

The only significant difference in the situation is that the person Congress is concerned about is a woman, Hillary Clinton.   I believe Congress  is upset because  members think the big old Russian bear was mean to poor little defenseless Goldilocks.

Does anyone believe Congress would have taken a similar action if Donald Trump had been the alleged victim?  Or, for that matter the previous losing Democratic candidate John Kerry?

Congress didn't impose sanctions when Vietnam meddled in the 2004 election by producing  story claiming that potential Democratic presidential aspirant Sen Bob Kerrey had participated in a war crime in Vietnam 50 years earlier.