'POSSIBLY ANOTHER FABRICATED RUSSIA HOAX': Three days after the
news first broke in the
New York Times, President Trump says the reason he was never briefed on intelligence that the Taliban have been paid by Russia to target U.S. troops in Afghanistan is that
his advisers don't believe the intelligence is accurate.
"Intel just reported to me that they did not find this info credible, and therefore did not report it to me or VP," Trump
tweeted last night. "Possibly another fabricated Russia Hoax, maybe by the Fake News @nytimesbooks, wanting to make Republicans look bad!!!"
Earlier in the evening, National Security Council spokesman John Ullyot told the
Washington Examiner that Trump had not been briefed
because of a lack of consensus within the intelligence community, adding that "the veracity of the underlying allegations continues to be evaluated."
MULTIPLE REPORTS: While Trump singled out the
New York Times, the story was quickly matched by other major news organizations, including the
Wall Street Journal, the
Washington Post, the
Associated Press, and Fox News.
In fact, Trump's tweet was in response to one by his reliable supporter, Sen. Lindsey Graham, who himself was reacting to a
Fox News report. "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," Graham
tweeted.
Comment: The last 6000 times this question was insinuated, the answer was emphatically 'NO'. Even miserable John Bolton could not answer 'yes'. We can't even say Chuck Todd was 'beating a dead horse'...there was no horse!