Inhofe, Horn react to claims that Russia paid bounties
Oklahoma Sen. Jim Inhofe said Thursday that he is “still up in the air” on whether Russia put bounties on the heads of U.S. troops and that there was “evidence on both sides.”
“That's an evaluation that — it's a tough one to answer,” the Republican lawmaker told Oklahoma reporters by telephone. “But if a gun's to my head and I have to answer it, I'd probably say `Probably not, to the level people are looking at right now.'”
Inhofe is chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, which has oversight of the Defense Department.
He has made numerous trips to Afghanistan since the United States began operations there in 2001.
He said the question about bounties was “going to get a lot of attention because people are trying to figure out some way to blame the president on this.”
Separately, Rep. Kendra Horn, D- Oklahoma City, said the issue was “absolutely something we cannot let go.”
“We're going to be having hearings and briefings to find out what happened,” Horn, a member of the House Armed Services Committee, said during a virtual town hall meeting on Thursday.
The New York Times reported last week that Russia had paid bounties to the Taliban to kill U. S. troops serving in Afghanistan.
The White House has repeatedly denied that President Donald Trump was briefed about the intelligence and has contended that the intelligence community was divided about whether Russia had offered bounties.
Inhofe attended a briefing with White House officials on Tuesday about the matter and echoed the White House position. On Wednesday, he held a closed hearing with uniformed and civilian Pentagon officials about “matters relating to Afghanistan.”
Asked about the controversy by reporters on Thursday, Inhofe said, “I” m still up in the air on that. I don't know whether that's entirely true. ... If that's a (technique) they'd want to use to kill Americans, they'd probably go to it. My guess is they'd find a cheaper way of doing it.”
He also said, “I don't know for sure. There's evidence on both sides. I attended the hearings yesterday. ... That's what we're trying to determine now, whether that was a technique that was used at that time. I'm just not convinced now.”
Horn said it was up to the president and the
Congress to do everything possible to protect U. S. troops and that Trump needs to take some action.
“I am deeply, deeply disturbed about reports that Russia was doing this,” she said.
“The president claims that he was not briefed on this. This brings up a lot of questions. As a member of the House Armed Services Committee, that's troubling. If it's true, if he was not briefed, why wasn't he? Why didn't the intelligence community give him this information? Now that the reports have been made public, what will the president do?”
The House Armed Service Committee completed action Wednesday on its annual defense bill.
The Senate bill, coauthored by Inhofe, is under consideration by the full Senate.
The House committee approved an amendment requiring that military bases named after confederate generals be renamed in a year. Horn voted for the amendment.
The Senate bill would require a study and then the renaming of the bases within three years. Inhofe objects to the language in the Senate bill and has said renaming should not be required.
Trump vowed in a tweet this week to veto the Senate bill if it requires the bases to be renamed.
The final defense bill will have to be a compromise between House and Senate versions.