The New York Times published a story on Friday alleging President Trump was briefed on efforts by the Russian government to get Taliban fighters to kill U.S. and coalition soldiers in Afghanistan in exchange for bounty rewards.
Nobody briefed or told me, @VP Pence, or Chief of Staff @MarkMeadows about the so-called attacks on our troops in Afghanistan by Russians, as reported through an “anonymous source” by the Fake News @nytimes. Everybody is denying it & there have not been many attacks on us…..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 28, 2020
The Times reported that Russian military intelligence had offered rewards for successful attacks on American and coalition soldiers and that militants are believed to have collected some of that money
The White House, the Director of National Intelligence and the Russian government have all dismissed the claims.
The New York Times also reported today that U.S. intelligence alerted officials as early as January about the efforts.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has requested a briefing by administration officials to Congress on the matter. “There is something very wrong here. But this must have an answer,” she said.
John Bolton, the neocon former National Security Adviser, who published a hit-book on the President recently also commented on the story. “There’s obviously more to this story, but it is pretty remarkable the president’s going out of his way to say he hasn’t heard anything about it,” he told NBC News.
Photo by The White House