You pay to kill our troops, we will not invite you to our world leaders meeting.
That’s the scenario being analyzed by senior officials at the top levels of the Trump administration, who are scrambling for a way to respond to Russia after it emerged that Moscow paid rewards to the Taliban for killing US forces. An idea that these officials have raised with President Donald Trump in recent days: do not invite Russian President Vladimir Putin to attend the G7 summit of world powers later this year.
President Trump told reporters in late May that He wanted to invite Russia to the meeting (which used to be known as the G8, until Russia was suspended for annexing Crimea and invading Ukraine). And that the following Monday, Trump spoke to Putin by phone to discuss, among other things, the G7 meeting and the possibility of Russia attending.
But in recent days, senior White House officials, including national security adviser Robert O’Brien, have recommended to Trump that he not formally extend that invitation in the wake of recent reports on Russian rewards. (That’s according to two US officials and a third source familiar with the matter.) While President Trump has not made a final decision on whether to officially invite Russia to the G7, officials say the administration is also considering inviting India and Australia to the meeting.
When government officials briefed the president last week on bounty intelligence and the G7, as well as the way forward in messages and possible policy moves, they ran into a familiar problem: drawing Trump’s attention. In at least two cases in the past few days, when officials or aides have discussed the option of rescinding his offer to Putin, Trump responded by not compromising in one way or another. According to two sources familiar with the matter, he instead quickly faced attack on the media, particularly The New York Times, who broke the news of the rewards.
Discussions over the G7 highlight the extent to which the administration is concerned about the optics of Trump hugging Russia amid a rampage over his military intelligence service that pays the Taliban for killing US troops. It also shows how limited administration officials believe their options are, given the president’s long-documented admiration for Putin.
Trump “has made it perfectly clear that he wants to make Russia’s offers,” said Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT).
“I don’t think Russia worries too much about congressional sanctions if the president encourages them to return to the G7 and withdraw troops from NATO countries.“
– Senator Chris Murphy
The White House did not respond to a request for comment.
From the Times Breaking news of the rewards, officials have grappled with how to uphold the integrity of what has been called an ongoing investigation into Russian payments while protecting Trump himself. Senior administration intelligence and national security officials have claimed that the president was not verbally informed about the intelligence because there was a lack of consensus on the validity of the reward evidence. However, the information was deemed robust enough to include in the President’s Daily Brief.
But as The Daily Beast previously reported, a classified US intelligence report makes it clear that Russia is supporting the Taliban materially and financially, and that there is serious evidence to point to the fact that it is also paying rewards. So far, however, the administration has made no move to address the issue publicly, although senior administration officials said the Pentagon had issued warnings about troop rewards in Afghanistan. Stepping away from offering Putin an invitation to the G7 could be a way for the president to take a public position against Russia while preserving goodwill between the two countries, said an official familiar with the G7 administration’s talks. And maybe, if it is drafted correctly, it might not bother Trump.
On Capitol Hill, where the intelligence report has circulated in recent days, Democrats are asking the White House to address Russian rewards. Some suggested issuing additional sanctions. Others said the president should demand that Putin end the rewards program.
Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), a member of the Committee on Armed Services and a veteran of the Iraq War, expressed her exasperation on Thursday with what she said was an inadequate briefing on the issue of the Department of Russia’s reward. Defending. He has not yet heard from the Afghan war commander, General Scott Miller, CIA Director Gina Haspel, or General Paul Nakasone, NSA director.
While Duckworth cautioned that he has not received complete information, he said the administration should do “much more” than not invite Putin to attend the next G7 summit.
“Obviously, we can have sanctions, obviously the president should contact the Russians saying ‘you will not do this, you will stop and you will end this,'” he said.
But Murphy, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, suggested on Wednesday that, at this point, there is little Congress can do to curb the president’s clearly pro-Moscow instincts.
“I think it is impossible for Congress to override the policy of the President of Russia. The president sets foreign policy … Congress can pass additional sanctions, but if the president continues to try to bring them into the G7, if he withdraws troops from Germany, there is nothing we can do to counter the administration’s policy, “he said Murphy: “I don’t think Russia worries too much about congressional sanctions if the president encourages them to return to the G7 and withdraw troops from NATO countries.”
—With additional reports from Spencer Ackerman and Sam Brodey
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