As pressure on White House builds, Trump tweets that Russia bounty allegations are 'Fake News'
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Wednesday dismissed as “Fake News” allegations that Russia offered bounties for killing American troops in Afghanistan. He said news stories about the allegations were made up to “damage me and the Republican Party.”
The president's national security adviser, Robert O'Brien, said the intelligence wasn't brought to the president's attention initially because it was unverified and there was no consensus among the intelligence community. But that’s a high bar — it’s rare for intelligence to be confirmed without a shadow of doubt before it is presented to senior government decision-makers.
Story continuesHouse Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, one of the Democrats who attended the briefing, said it was “inexplicable” why Trump won’t say publicly that he is working to get to the bottom of the issue and why he won’t call out Putin. He said Trump’s defense that he hadn't been briefed was inexcusable.
Some House Republicans who were briefed by the White House on Monday also said they left with questions.
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