The US President lambasted a report that claimed he was briefed on Russian efforts to target US troops with bounties. The New York Times claimed that Trump did not respond to the brief.
The report alleged that the president ignored a brief that Russia would Taliban linked militants to kill US troops in Afghanistan.
Trump responded to the allegation on Twitter, savaging the report and claiming he had no knowledge of the efforts.
He wrote: “Nobody briefed or told me, Mike Pence, or Chief of Staff Mark Meadows about the so-called attacks on our troops in Afghanistan by Russians.
“Everybody is denying it & there have not been many attacks on us.”
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Trump also called on the New York Times to reveal its anonymous source who informed that paper about the report.
The New York Times claimed that the Russian bounties were linked to an intelligence unit, also believed to be linked to assassination attempts in Europe.
The Times also reported that Islamist extremists were beloved to have collected bounty money because of the offer.
The White House and Director of National Intelligence on Saturday denied the report, as well as Russia’s foreign ministry.
Pelosi said: “There is something very wrong here.
“But this must have an answer”
She also added that Trump had supported Putin by diminishing US influence in NATIO by reducing US forces from Germany and inviting Putin’s Russia back into the G8 after they were expelled in 2014.
House Intelligence chairman Adam Schiff, as well as Pelosi, also questioned why, if Trump’s claims were true, he was not told about the bounty offer.
Schiff tweeted: “If he was briefed and still wanted Russia back in the G-8, it’s even worse.”
It comes after recent allegations that President Trump has been collaborating with foreign powers for his re-election bid on November 3.
Former national security adviser John Bolton recently published a tell-all memoir that revealed that Trump had called on China’s President Xi Jinping to buy more American agricultural produce to boost Trump’s popularity in rural states.
He also confirmed in his book that Trump did attempt to pressure Ukraine’s leader to dig up information on Joe Biden and his son Hunter, which led to the President’s impeachment trial in January.
On the Russian bounties, Bolton told NBC news: “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.”
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