House Speaker Nancy Pelosi accused Trump administration officials of lying about the importance of a leaked but unverified allegation Russia offered Afghan militants bounties to kill American service members.
“You got the con,” Pelosi said when a reporter pointed out the information has not been verified. “The White House put on with con that if you don’t have 100% consensus on intelligence that it shouldn’t rise to a certain level.”
The California Democrat said she “didn’t know about” the intelligence allegations against Russia, even though top Republican and Democratic leaders are often briefed on intelligence matters.
Pelosi did not specifically say whether Democrats had access to the information.
Instead, she blamed the intelligence community for not more prominently warning Congress about the claim.
“It was of a consequential level that the intelligence community should have brought it to us in that way,” Pelosi said.
Pelosi and seven other top Democrats and Republicans were provided a classified briefing about the bounty claim, which is anonymously sourced in several media outlets.
Trump has tweeted that he was not informed of the matter because intelligence officials did not agree it was credible.
Pelosi said even if it was not verified, Trump should have known about it and taken action, despite what White House officials say.
“So don’t buy into that,” Pelosi said. “Just because they don’t have 100% of consensus, should this be not briefed to the President of the United States, when it involves the security and safety of our men and women in uniform.”
Pelosi would not disclose any of the details of the classified briefing, which was led by CIA Director Gina Haspel.
Democrats said Trump’s in action on the unverified claim shows he is too soft on Russian President Vladimir Putin. Pelosi criticized Trump for not reading the daily briefings. According to reports, the allegation about the Russian bounties was included in a February briefing.
“He should spend more time reading the presidential daily brief than planning military parades and preserving the relics of the Confederacy,” Pelosi said.
A top Democratic aide said the neither party leaders nor intelligence committee members were ever briefed on the matter.
