President Donald Trump insisted Wednesday that allegations about a Russian bounty scheme to kill American soldiers are nothing but "fake news," contradicting his own advisers who said the U.S. considered the matter serious enough to prepare retaliatory options against Moscow.
"The Russia Bounty story is just another made up Fake News tale that is told only to damage me and the Republican Party ... Just another HOAX!" Trump tweeted, for the second day in a row seeking to discredit the explosive claim that Russia offered cash bounties to Taliban militants willing to assassinate U.S. service members in Afghanistan.
Hours before Trump's tweet, White House National Security Adviser Robert O'Brien offered a starkly different message.
In an appearance on "Fox & Friends," O'Brien confirmed the U.S. obtained intelligence to suggest Russia had indeed given bounties to Taliban extremists.
And, while there were some internal disagreements about the veracity of the intelligence, O'Brien suggested it was credible enough to prepare next steps.
"I can tell you this, if this information turned out to be true, and now we may never know, but if it turned out to be true, we had options ready to go, and the president was ready to take strong action, as he always is," O'Brien said.
During a press conference at State Department headquarters, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo gave a similar assessment.
"We took this seriously. We handled it appropriately," Pompeo said of the Russian bounty intelligence, declining to comment on specifics, citing confidentiality concerns.
A White House National Security Council spokesman declined to comment on how Trump's "HOAX" declaration squares with the remarks from O'Brien and Pompeo.
Despite the apparent retaliatory preparations, O'Brien reiterated the White House's claim that Trump wasn't briefed on the bounty intelligence until it was publicly leaked last week.
"The president was not briefed because at the time of these allegations, they were uncorroborated," he said. "As a result, the president's career CIA briefer decided not to brief him because it was unverified intelligence."
Ned Price, a former CIA analyst who served in the George W. Bush and Barack Obama administrations, said it's "inconceivable" that Trump would have been kept out of the loop while his officials explored plans to retaliate against a foreign adversary.
"Those two things can't coexist together," Price told the Daily News. "To me, it suggests there was much more corroboration and credibility than the administration has us believe."
Since last week, a flurry of news reports have emerged stating that the Trump administration learned of Russia's alleged bounties as far back as 2019.
The information reached Trump's desk as early as February in the form of a written classified brief, according to reports, raising concerns that he may have looked the other way as the Kremlin sought to have U.S. soldiers killed. Trump is known not to pay attention to the written document known as the President's Daily Brief (PDB).
An April 2019 Taliban attack that left three U.S. Marines dead, including former FDNY firefighter Christopher Slutman, is reportedly one of the strikes suspected of being facilitated by Russian bounties.
Former intelligence officers have cast doubt over the claim that Trump wasn't briefed because the bounty intel wasn't verified.
Price, who helped compile and deliver PDBs for President Barack Obama, said presidents are generally presented with a range of intelligence on a daily basis, corroborated and uncorroborated, in order to help them understand the bigger picture ahead strategic decisions.
The ex-CIA officer, who resigned weeks after Trump's 2017 inauguration, speculated that the president is either lying about not knowing of the bounty intelligence or simply didn't read the PDB containing it.
"There are lies both from the president and his team," he said. "They are just separate lies, which really says something of this administration."
