Democrats said they “did not receive any new substantive information” at a White House briefing about reports that Russia offered Afghan militants bounties to kill American service members.
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and a group of eight Democrats met with top White House officials Tuesday about the report and said they were told the president was not briefed on the claim.
“Apparently, that did not happen,” Hoyer, a Maryland Democrat, said.
Hoyer disputed a tweet from President Trump that the report was “possibly another fabricated Russia hoax” meant to make the GOP look bad. But Hoyer also acknowledged that not all U.S intelligence believes the story about the bounties is true.
“The president called this a hoax publicly,” Hoyer said. “Nothing in the briefing we just received led me to believe it is a hoax. There may be different judgments as to the level of credibility, but there was no judgment it was a hoax.”
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, a California Democrat, said White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, who attended the meeting, called the claim “a very serious matter” and said the administration is investigating it.
Hoyer said he demanded the White House provide a briefing to all members of Congress about the bounty claim, but White House officials did make any promises to provide such a briefing.
In a press conference following the White House briefing, Democrats renewed their attacks on Trump’s relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin, which they said undermines U.S. interests.
“Why doesn’t the president question Putin,” House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot Engel, a New York Democrat who attended the briefing, said. “Why doesn’t the president condemn what Putin has done?”
Democrats said Trump should have been briefed on the matter, even though the Intelligence Community is not in agreement on whether it is true.
“This was a red flag,” Hoyer said. “It either was not waved or the president ignored the wave.”
