President Trump was reportedly briefed on the Russian bounties on U.S. troops by former national security adviser John Bolton in early 2019.
Several unnamed officials told the Associated Press that Trump was briefed on Russia’s decision to place bounties on U.S. troops fighting against the Taliban in 2019. The briefings included at least one written report in his daily intelligence briefing and an in-person briefing from Bolton in March, during which the allegations were the sole focus of the meeting, the outlet said Monday.
The briefing by Bolton was not considered to be especially urgent by intelligence officials at the time and did not include any “actionable intelligence.” Actionable intelligence requires enough information to create a plan of action, which this report did not contain.
The White House has maintained that Trump was not briefed on the situation following a report from the New York Times last week, which said that he had been briefed and decided not to take action. Trump denied the report, calling it “fake news.” He later said that he did not receive a briefing on the issue because intelligence officials did not find the details credible.
CIA Director Gina Haspel released a statement on Monday saying that hostile forces targeting U.S. troops have been a “longtime concern” of the agency and that “leaks compromise and disrupt the critical interagency work to collect, assess, and ascribe culpability” to those hostile entities.
Bolton has not confirmed that he briefed Trump on the matter. He did say during an interview with Face the Nation on Sunday that Trump was likely denying that he had a briefing because then he would not have to respond to Russia.
“He can disown everything if nobody ever told him about it,” Bolton said.
