Donald Trump again denied having been briefed on the Russian bounty program paying the Taliban to target American troops in Afghanistan. “Intel just reported to me that they did not find this info credible, and therefore did not report it to me or @VP. Possibly another fabricated Russia Hoax, maybe by the Fake News @nytimesbooks, wanting to make Republicans look bad!!!” Trump tweeted Sunday night.
It’s not just The New York Times reporting that Russia paid the Taliban to attack U.S. troops. The Washington Post reported that the program resulted in American deaths. The Wall Street Journal and Britain’s Sky News have also reported on the program, with their own sources confirming it. Trump’s denial is just the latest of a series from his White House, but the thing is, Trump’s White House doesn’t have a lot of credibility or a reputation for truth telling.
A series of congressional Republicans asked for answers, with Trump’s latest denial coming in response to Sen. Lindsey Graham tweeting “Imperative Congress get to the bottom of recent media reports that Russian GRU units in Afghanistan have offered to pay the Taliban to kill American soldiers with the goal of pushing America out of the region.” Rep. Liz Cheney, the third-ranking House Republican, tweeting “If reporting about Russian bounties on U.S. forces is true, the White House must explain: 1. Why weren’t the president or vice president briefed? Was the info in the PDB? 2. Who did know and when? 3. What has been done in response to protect our forces & hold Putin accountable?”
Some Republicans were still in question-dodging mode, though, including House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (who in 2016 “joked” that “There’s two people I think Putin pays: Rohrabacher and Trump”) and acting Senate Intelligence Committee chair and reliable coward Marco Rubio. Every Senate Republican but Mitt Romney has this one on their hands, too, because they all shielded Trump from removal after the House impeached him.
The White House answer, so far, is that Trump wasn’t told, but as of Saturday, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany was not denying the basic reporting. Trump’s previous denial had mischaracterized the story, tweeting that he’d never heard “about the so-called attacks on our troops in Afghanistan by Russians,” except it’s attacks by the Taliban paid for by Russia, not direct attacks by Russia. Former acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell did claim “I never heard this.”
But when it’s sources confirming the story to multiple publications vs. the Trump White House, the presumption of truth is not with the White House. The question is what the truth behind the lies coming from the White House is. Was Trump briefed and he just didn’t pay attention? Briefed and didn’t have a problem with it? Not briefed because intelligence officials worried he’d get right on the phone to Russian President Vladimir Putin and reveal the sources of the intelligence?
This is yet another scandal that would define a presidency, if the volume of Trump’s scandals hadn’t already overwhelmed the possibility of any single issue breaking through to be the one that people remember. And the White House’s muddled response, along with Trump’s need to personally lash out on Twitter, guarantees that it will drag on, with new information leaking out bit by bit.
