The White House briefed eight House Republicans on intelligence that Russia offered bounties to Afghan militants who targeted U.S. troops for assassination, according to Trump administration officials and congressional sources.
The Republicans attended the briefing, including Reps. Mac Thornberry and Michael McCaul, ranking members on the House Armed Services and Foreign Affairs panels, respectively. A mix of other Republicans from those committees — Reps. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.), and Jim Banks (R-Ind.) — also attended. Rep. Chris Stewart (R-Utah), a member of the House Intelligence Committee and Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), who doesn’t sit on either panel but leads the House Freedom Caucus, were also present.
Noticeably absent from the briefing, which are traditionally bipartisan affairs, were any Democrats, despite controlling both House panels. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) is expected to bring a group of Democratic members to the White House for a briefing Tuesday at 8 a.m.
The group includes Hoyer as well as Eliot Engel, chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Adam Schiff, chair of the Intelligence Committee, Armed Services Chair Adam Smith of Washington, Gregory Meeks of New York, Brad Sherman of California, Abigail Spanberger of Virginia, Elissa Slotkin of Michigan, Bill Keating of Massachusetts and Ruben Gallego of Arizona.
Republican-only attendees of Monday’s briefing began characterizing the intelligence and defending Trump over allegations he let the bounty allegations languish for months without action. Banks in particular tweeted that the intelligence probe on the bounties is ongoing.
The White House’s decision to bring in only Republican son Monday followed demands from Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer for briefings for all members of Congress, pointing to those news reports and conflicting statements by President Donald Trump on the matter. That left Democrats decrying an effort to manipulate intelligence for Trump’s benefit.
“It’s hard to say the Trump Administration isn’t politicizing the military when only members of their party get invited to the briefing,” tweeted Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.).
The issue of partisan intelligence briefings flared in January, when Trump acknowledged that Republicans had received advanced notifications about his order to strike Iranian general Qasem Soleimani without notifying Democrats, a break from the typical bipartisan intelligence sharing that has occurred on military matters.
It’s unclear if any lawmakers had previously been briefed on intelligence related to the Russian bounties. Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) declined to comment on the recent reports but said, “the targeting of our troops by foreign adversaries via proxies is a well established threat.”
The New York Times reported over the weekend on the intelligence assessment, which indicated that senior White House and intelligence officials knew about the bounty allegations since at least March but took no action. The Times reported that Trump was briefed on the matter and that it was included in his Presidential Daily Brief, but Trump denied ever learning of the intelligence and late Sunday said his leaders in the intelligence community told him it wasn’t credible.
“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 wrote in her letter to Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe and CIA Director Gina Haspel. “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.”
During a CNN interview, Pelosi said it was “clear that the intelligence is real.”
“The question is whether the president was briefed. If he was not briefed, why would he not be briefed?” she said, “Were they afraid to approach him on the subject of Russia? And were they concerned that if they did tell him, that he would tell [Russian President Vladimir] Putin?”
Since the news reports emerged, Democrats and some Republicans have been demanding details from the administration. Early Monday, congressional aides indicated no briefing had been set up for the House intelligence, armed services or foreign affairs committee. It’s unclear if the Gang of Eight — the leaders of the House and Senate, as well as the intelligence committee — will be briefed, but as of Monday morning there was no meeting scheduled, per a congressional source.
Democrats have long accused Trump of being soft on Russia and its president Vladimir Putin, despite the country’s well-documented attempts to interfere in U.S. elections, its aggression in Ukraine and annexation of Crimea, and its support of Bashar al-Assad in Syria’s brutal civil war. Those allegations were inflamed anew earlier this month with the publication of a memoir by former Trump national security adviser John Bolton, who accused the president of cozying up to autocrats, including Putin, for political gain.
The new allegations — which the New York Times and Washington Post reported may have led to the deaths of U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan — have once again brought Trump’s relationship with Russia under scrutiny.
Senior House Democrats were furious with the reports, which first surfaced Saturday. Pelosi told ABC ‘s ‘This Week” on Sunday: “This is as bad as it gets.”
“If reports are true that Russia offered a bounty on U.S. troops in Afghanistan and Trump wasn’t briefed, that’s a problem,” House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) tweeted Sunday. “What will it take to get Trump to abandon the fiction that Putin is our friend?”
Some Republicans, too, have vowed to investigate the reports. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), a close confidant of Trump who spent part of the weekend golfing with the president, called it “imperative” that Congress learn the details.
“I expect the Trump Administration to take such allegations seriously and inform Congress immediately as to the reliability of these news reports,” Graham tweeted.
Trump retweeted Graham’s comment late Sunday to downplay the new reports.
“Intel just reported to me that they did not find this info credible, and therefore did not report it to me or @VP,” Trump said. “Possibly another fabricated Russia Hoax, maybe by the Fake News @nytimesbooks, wanting to make Republicans look bad!!!”
Democrats, however, hammered the president over the bounties.
“It’s sickening that American soldiers have been killed as a result of Russian bounties on their heads, and the Commander in Chief didn’t do a thing to stop it,” said Max Rose (D-N.Y.), a combat veteran who served in Afghanistan.
Sarah Ferris contributed to this story.