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It was “totally outrageous” that Donald Trump did not respond to reports that the same Russian intelligence cells that attacked the 2016 US election also offered rewards to US soldiers for Taliban fighters, President Nancy Pelosi said.
“This is as bad as it gets, and yet the president will not confront the Russians in this regard,” Pelosi said Sunday in an interview with ABC News.
“This is totally outrageous. You would think that the moment he heard about this, the president would want to know more instead of denying anything,” Pelosi said.
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“Now he says it’s fake news. Why would he say that? Why wouldn’t he say, ‘Let’s go see it’?” said the speaker.
The White House has denied reports that the president ignored a warning by US intelligence that the Russian military had offered rewards to Taliban-linked militants in Afghanistan for killing US troops and other coalition forces.
the New York Times reported the claim on Friday, sparking a storm of accusations that the president had failed to protect American and allied troops, including those of Britain.
Citing informed officials on the matter, the newspaper said the United States determined months ago that a Russian military intelligence unit linked to assassination attempts in Europe had offered rewards for successful attacks last year.
However, the White House has not disputed that US troops were under attack.
“The United States receives thousands of intelligence reports a day and is subject to strict scrutiny,” White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said in a statement.
“While the White House does not routinely comment on alleged intelligence or internal deliberations, the CIA director, national security adviser, and chief of staff can confirm that neither the president nor the vice president was informed of the alleged reward intelligence. Russian, “said Ms McEnany said.
“This does not speak to the merit of the alleged intelligence but to the inaccuracy of the New York Times story that erroneously suggests that President Trump was informed on this matter,” he said.
Twenty-three U.S. soldiers died in Afghanistan in 2019, though authorities don’t know if Russian rewards caused any of those deaths.
Pelosi said congressional leaders did not know about Russia’s rewards on US troops, but that they would be investigating whether the president was briefed on the matter and what his response was.
“Something is very wrong here. But this must have an answer,” said the speaker.
Former Trump national security adviser John Bolton said Sunday that if the report on Russian rewards for US soldiers in Afghanistan is true, it is “one of the most serious issues to come up in the Trump administration.”
Bolton has skewered his former boss on his best-selling book, The room where it happened, as an incompetent cheat with no central national security strategy beyond what he believes will help him get reelected.
The former national security adviser said Trump was unprepared to confront traditional U.S. adversaries like North Korea, China or Russia because he was blinded by his quest for reelection.
Bolton plans to write a conservative on his ballot for the 2020 presidential election this year, he said. He told the Washington Post Recently, he would be comfortable with Vice President Mike Pence in command of the White House.
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