Top Republicans defended President Trump against allegations he ignored a report that Russia offered Afghan militants bounties to kill U.S. service members stationed in the country.
Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Jim Inhofe, an Oklahoma Republican, said he attended a White House briefing with Democrats about the matter.
“I know the press likes to think the president knew this and didn’t say anything, that it was a cover-up,” Inhofe said on Tuesday. “He didn’t know about it, and I’m convinced of that.”
Inhofe said that, based on what intelligence officials “knew at the time” about the claim, it did not rise to the level of informing Trump.
“I think probably not,” Inhofe said.
Sen. Todd Young, an Indiana Republican and head of the Senate campaign arm, also defended Trump. Young, a former Marine intelligence officer, said he reviewed the information about the claim that was provided by top Trump administration intelligence officials and saw nothing to raise alarm about Trump’s response.
“President Trump has consistently been hard on Russia,” Young said. “I have itemized the litany of areas in which he has been difficult for President Putin. And he has, in contrast to the previous administration, been incredibly responsive when things rise to a strategic level and require a modulating response vis-a-vis Russia and its leadership. And the president, to my mind, is taking this matter very seriously.”
Young said that news outlets that ran stories about the anonymous claim about the bounties printed unverified and inconclusive information “as though it had been conclusively determined that Russia paid bounties on U.S. troops.”
The information about the claim was available to the members of the Intelligence Committee.
“Every single member, Republican and Democrat alike, of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence should have been aware of the intelligence that I was briefed on. It’s long been available,” Young said.
Senate and House Democrats have accused Trump of aligning with Russian President Vladimir Putin and ignoring the bounty claims because Russia has damaging information about him.
“There’s a bigger point here,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, told reporters on Tuesday. “Where is President Trump? His No. 1 job is to protect American soldiers, to protect the men and women who fight for us overseas instead of dithering about what he knew, what he didn’t know. He should have a plan. What are we doing? And above all, go after Putin.”
Republicans were unified in their defense of the president, and they denounced the long-standing claims by Democrats that Trump is collaborating with Russia.
“We’ve got more sanctions against Russia than any other time,” House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, a staunch Trump ally and a California Republican, told reporters Tuesday. “The president’s entire focus on rebuilding this military and the advancements that he’s put into it — his goal is to make sure every man or woman is safe. I’ve been with this president when he’s gone to Dover. I’ve watched his face. I’ve watched him console families. I’ve spoken with him at night when he has to call families. I will tell you, it is his top priority.”
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, said he’s not familiar with the daily presidential briefings or whether Trump should have been informed about the allegations, particularly if they were not verified.
“Conclusions, apparently, were not reached in this matter, and I can’t imagine whether the president is subjected to every rumor that may be unsubstantiated,” McConnell said.
