trump
© picture-alliance/O. DoulieryUS President Donald Trump
An intelligence memo commissioned by the Trump administration has attempted to raise doubts regarding CIA intelligence that claimed Russia offered bounties to kill U.S. and coalition troops in Afghanistan, the New York Times reported, citing three officials.

The memo, produced by the National Intelligence Council, reportedly contains no new information but emphasizes uncertainties and gaps in evidence present in the original report.

The memo reportedly states that the CIA and the National Counterterrorism Center had assessed with "medium confidence" — i.e. short of near certainty — that Russian intelligence offered the bounties.

The new memo is dated July 1, and as noted by the Times, appears to have been commissioned after its June 26 report that the White House had not authorized action against Russia despite being briefed on the intelligence findings back in March.

Former national security officials believe that politics may have influenced the production of the memo with the intent to bolster the Trump administration's attempts to justify its inaction.


Comment: Unnamed, therefore not to be taken as fact. Bolton perhaps?


The National Intelligence Council reports to the director of national intelligence, John Ratcliffe, a former Republican congressman who has been a vocal supporter of the President.

Trump and the White House had pushed back against the claim that he was briefed on the issue, with Trump tweeting that "nobody briefed or told" him.

BIG NUMBER

18. That's the number fatalities suffered by U.S. military personnel serving in Afghanistan from hostile gunfire or improvised explosives between 2019 and 2020, several of which are reportedly a result of the Russian bounties, according to the Washington Post. The original New York Times report had also stated that intelligence officials were specifically investigating a truck bombing in April 2019 that killed 3 marines in connection with the bounties.


Comment: ...and we know how unreliable and cross-gratifying these two sources are.


KEY BACKGROUND

Following the Times' report, Trump came under fire from Democrats, who have slammed his reported inaction on the intelligence and his lack of retaliation toward Russia, whose return to G7 meetings he advocated in May.

Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden also rebuked Trump on the issue saying, "it's an absolute dereliction of duty if any of this is even remotely true," adding, "I think the president has a lot to answer for, and we should get the answers quickly."

Some key Republican leaders had also criticized the White House's response, with Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) demanding to know whether the president and vice president were briefed on the issue, who knew about the intelligence and when, and "what has been done in response to protect our forces & hold Putin accountable?"
About the Author:
Siladitya Ray is a breaking news reporter at Forbes, with a focus on covering important tech policy and business news.