Truth may never emerge on Russian bounty allegations: White House

THE White House says it may be impossible to determine if Russia placed bounties on US troops in Afghanistan, as a key official blamed leaks for hampering intelligence gathering.

“It may now be impossible to get to the bottom of this, because some government official somewhere decided to leak allegations before we had a chance to get the bottom of it,” National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien said on Wednesday.

“We may never get to the truth of the matter and that is a shame,” he added, as he sought to refocus attention on the issue of leaks, a problem that has been consistent in the Trump White House.

O’Brien said President Donald Trump was not briefed on the concerns earlier this year because the intelligence officer in charge lacked “confidence” in the material. The national security adviser to the president defended the officer’s decision.

The Trump administration has continued to say that it is unclear if Russia did indeed place bounties on US troops.

The claim leaked to the US media over the weekend and the matter is hounding Trump now for days, in an election year.

The White House is due to brief top lawmakers on the affair.

Moscow has denied the allegations outright.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was asked about whether the US would still invite Russia to the G7 and insisted that dialogue between Washington and Moscow was crucial, not ruling out extending a possible offer to join the forum.