US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Friday sent a letter to National Intelligence Director John Ratcliffe and CIA Director Gina Haspel that she is requesting a briefing for of all members of the House of Representatives about alleged Russian bounties on US soldiers in Afghanistan
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 29th June, 2020) US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Friday sent a letter to National Intelligence Director John Ratcliffe and CIA Director Gina Haspel that she is requesting a briefing for of all members of the House of Representatives about alleged Russian bounties on US soldiers in Afghanistan.
"The questions that arise are: was the President briefed, and if not, why not, and why was Congress not briefed. Congress and the country need answers now," Pelosi said. "I therefore request an interagency brief for all House members immediately. Congress needs to know what the intelligence community knows about this significant threat to American troops and our allies and what options are available to hold Russia accountable."
On Sunday, the New York Times ran an article citing unnamed intelligence officials as saying President Donald Trump had been presented with an intelligence report that claimed Russia could have paid bounties to Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan to assassinate US soldiers. Two other newspapers - The Washington Post and Wall Street Journal - later "confirmed" the report as did the United Kingdom's military.
Trump said earlier on Monday that US intelligence told him they did not find the report about alleged Russian bounties on US troops credible. Trump called the claims the latest fabricated Russia hoax and said it could be an effort aimed at making Republicans look bad before the November elections.
Russia views the media reports as fake news and urges taking into account Trump's statement, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday. Peskov added that Russian President Vladimir Putin and Trump had not yet discussed this issue.
Russia's special presidential representative for Afghanistan Zamir Kabulov told Sputnik the new media reports are part of the United States' domestic political infighting since the forces in Washington interested in maintaining the US military presence in Afghanistan use fake news to justify their failure in that country.
