Officials: Trump was briefed on bounties
White House knew Russia was offering money to Afghan militants last year
Top officials in the White House were aware in early 2019 of classified intelligence indicating Russia was secretly offering bounties to the Taliban for the deaths of Americans, a year earlier than previously reported, according to US officials with direct knowledge of the intelligence.
The assessment was included in at least one of President Donald Trump’s written daily intelligence briefings at the time, according to the officials.
Then-national security adviser John Bolton also told colleagues he briefed Trump on the intelligence assessment in March 2019. The
White House did not respond to questions about Trump or other officials’ awareness of Russia’s provocations in 2019. The White House has said Trump was not — and still has not been — briefed on the intelligence assessments because they have not been fully verified. However, it is unusual for all intelligence to be fully verified before it is presented to top officials.
Bolton declined to comment yesterday when asked if he had briefed Trump about the matter in 2019. On Monday, he suggested to NBC’s Meet
the Press that Trump was claiming ignorance to justify his administration’s lack of a response: “He can disown everything if nobody ever told him about it.”
The revelations cast new doubt on White House efforts to distance Trump from the Russian intelligence assessments. The AP reported on Monday that concerns about Russian bounties were also included in a second written presidential daily briefing earlier this year and current national security adviser Robert O’Brien had discussed the matter with Trump.
O’Brien denies he did so.
The administration’s earlier awareness of the Russian efforts raises additional questions about why Trump did not take any punitive action against Moscow for efforts that put the lives of American service members at risk.
Trump has sought throughout his time in office to bring the US closer to Russia and its president, Vladimir Putin, moving earlier this year to try to reinstate Russia as part of a group of world leaders.
Officials said they did not consider the intelligence assessments in 2019 to be urgent.
The officials with knowledge of Bolton’s briefing for Trump said it contained no “actionable intelligence”, meaning the intelligence community did not have enough information to form a strategic plan or response. However, the classified assessment of Russian bounties was the sole purpose of the meeting.
The intelligence that surfaced in early 2019 indicated Russian operatives had become more aggressive in their desire to contract with the Taliban and members of the Haqqani Network, a militant group aligned with the Taliban in Afghanistan and designated a foreign terrorist organisation in 2012.
The National Security Council and the undersecretary of defence for intelligence did hold meetings regarding the intelligence.
The Pentagon declined to comment and the NSC did not respond to questions.
Concerns about Russian bounties flared anew this year after members of the elite Naval Special Warfare Development Group raided a Taliban outpost and recovered US$500,000.
The funds bolstered the suspicions of the American intelligence community that the Russians had
offered money to Taliban militants and other associations.
The White House contends the president was unaware of this development as well. However, the information was also included in the presidential daily briefing. And officials told the AP that O’Brien did brief Trump on the matter.
O’Brien has denied such a briefing occurred.
The officials told the AP that career government officials developed options for the White House to respond to the Russian aggression in Afghanistan. However, the Trump administration has yet to authorise any action.
The intelligence in 2019 and 2020 surrounding Russian bounties was derived in part from debriefings of captured Taliban militants.
Officials with knowledge of the matter said that Taliban operatives from opposite ends of the country and from separate tribes offered similar accounts.