President Donald Trump yesterday came under growing pressure to respond to allegations that Russia offered bounties for killing American troops in Afghanistan, with Democrats demanding answers and accusing Mr Trump of bowing to Russian president Vladimir Putin at the risk of US soldiers’ lives.<\/b>
\nPresident Donald Trump yesterday came under growing pressure to respond to allegations that Russia offered bounties for killing American troops in Afghanistan, with Democrats demanding answers and accusing Mr Trump of bowing to Russian president Vladimir Putin at the risk of US soldiers’ lives.
House Democrats returning from a briefing at the White House said they learned nothing new about American intelligence assessments that suggested Russia was making overtures to militants as the US and the Taliban meanwhile held talks to end the conflict in Afghanistan.
Senate Republicans who attended a separate briefing largely defended the president, arguing along with the White House that the intelligence was unverified.
The intelligence assessments were reported by ‘The New York Times’, then confirmed to The Associated Press news agency by American intelligence officials and others with knowledge of the matter.
Majority leader Steny Hoyer and a small group of other House Democrats met with White House officials as Mr Trump downplayed the allegations and aides said he had not been briefed on them.
The Democrats questioned why Mr Trump wouldn’t have been briefed and pushed White House officials to have the president make a strong statement about the matter.
House Intelligence Committee chairman Adam Schiff, one of the Democrats who attended the briefing, said it was \u00ab\u00a0inexplicable\u00a0\u00bb why Mr Trump won’t say publicly that he is working to get to the bottom of the issue and why he won’t call out Mr Putin.
He said Mr Trump’s defense that he hasn’t been briefed is inexcusable.
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany has repeatedly insisted Mr Trump wasn’t briefed on the findings because they hadn’t been verified. That’s an unusually high bar, since it is rare for intelligence to be confirmed without a shadow of doubt before it is presented to senior government decision-makers.
Some House Republicans who were briefed by the White House on Monday also said they left with questions.
But Senate Republicans seemed less concerned and questioned the media reports, and Republicans briefed in the White House Situation Room yesterday appeared mostly satisfied with the answers they received.
Senators reviewed documents related to the allegations on Monday evening and yesterday, including information not previously known, according to one aide who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Nebraska Republican Ben Sasse, a member of the intelligence panel, said Monday evening that Congress should focus on finding out who knew what, and when, \u00ab\u00a0and did the commander in chief know? And if not, how the hell not?\u00a0\u00bb
The intelligence community has been investigating an April 2019 attack on an American convoy that killed three US Marines as they travelled back to the US military’s Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan, officials told the AP.
Irish Independent<\/p>\n