President Donald Trump yesterday called the New York Times narrative that claims that Russian military intelligence paid bounties to the Taliban to kill U.S. troops in Afghanistan a hoax, telling Fox Business News in an interview yesterday that the so-called intelligence never rose to the level of the President. “We never heard about it because intelligence never found it to be of that level” where it would be brought to the President, he said. “From what I hear, and I hear it pretty good, the intelligence people, many of them, didn’t believe that it happened at all,” Trump continued. “I think it’s a hoax. I think it’s a hoax by the newspapers and the Democrats... I agree with the intelligence people... and if it did happen, the Russians would hear about it and anybody else would hear about it that was involved.”
National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien said in an interview with Fox News that it was the CIA official who briefs Trump in person who decided not to tell Trump about the alleged intelligence on the Russina bounties. “The president’s career CIA briefer decided not to brief him because it was unverified intelligence,” O’Brien said, adding that she is “an outstanding officer.”
“We get raw intelligence and tactical intelligence every day, hundreds of pieces of intelligence come in every day, thousands of pieces of intelligence come in a week,” he said. “She made that call and, you know what, I think she made the right call, so I’m not going to criticize her. And knowing the facts that I know now, I stand behind that call.”
