Washington President Trump revealed that during a recent phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, he did not raise the report. intelligence about a Russian military espionage unit offering rewards to Taliban-linked militants for killing US and coalition forces in Afghanistan.
“No, it was a phone call to discuss other things,” Trump told “Axios on HBO” in an interview Tuesday, adding that “I have never discussed it with him.”
The president said the reported Russian operation was “a problem that many people said was false news,” noting that “some of the wonderful people in the Bush administration” doubted the intelligence. Speaking to reporters at the White House on Wednesday, Trump referred to former Secretary of State Colin Powell as someone who cast doubt on intelligence. Powell told MSNBC earlier this month, “Our military commanders on the ground did not believe it was as serious a problem as the newspapers reported and television reported.”
“It got out of control before we really understood what had happened,” Powell said. “I’m not sure we fully understand now.”
Trump and Putin spoke on the phone on July 23 and the president told “Axios on HBO” that they discussed nuclear proliferation. A reading of the call distributed by the White House said the two world leaders also spoke about the coronavirus pandemic, as well as “critical bilateral and global problems.” The White House said Trump “reiterated his hope of avoiding an expensive three-way arms race between China, Russia and the United States.”
The president’s admission comes after he declined to disclose whether he discussed the Russian scheme with Putin when asked about Monday’s call. Trump told reporters during a trip to Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies in North Carolina that “we did not talk about what we discussed,” but he called the conversation with the Russian president “very productive.”
Press reports of Russians offering cash payments to Taliban-linked soldiers for killing US troops in Afghanistan first emerged in late June and prompted questions from Capitol Hill as to whether Trump knew of intelligence about the efforts.
But top Trump administration intelligence and national security officials, including national security adviser Robert O’Brien and director of national intelligence John Ratcliffe, said that neither the president nor the vice president was informed about Russian reward intelligence because It was not verified by the intelligence community. The New York Times and Associated Press, however, reported that the information was included in Trump’s written intelligence reports.
Trump reiterated to Axios that intelligence “never came to my desk” due to questions about its veracity and said that if he had, “he would have done something about it.”
When asked if he reads his informative book, known as the President’s Daily Brief, the president said he “reads a lot” and attends in-person intelligence meetings at least twice a week.
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