Trump dismissed the information as “fake news.” (File)
Washington:
Democrats and Republican lawmaking colleagues of President Donald Trump in Congress demanded more information from the White House on Monday after learning that Russian military intelligence was offering bonuses to activists for killing US troops in Afghanistan.
“Congress and country need answers now. I therefore immediately request an interagency brief from all members of the House,” said Nancy Pelosi, President of the US House of Democratic Representatives, in a letter to the House. National Intelligence Director John Ratcliffe and CIA Director Gina Haspel.
“The questions are: has the president been informed, and if not, why, and why has Congress not been informed?” Pelosi wrote.
Representative Mac Thornberry, the lead Republican on the House Armed Services Committee, joined the group’s chairman, Democratic Representative Adam Smith, to request a briefing from the Department of Defense.
“The American people – and our soldiers – deserve to know the truth about what the White House knew about these Russian operations that may have directly resulted in the deaths of American soldiers,” said Smith.
Thornberry told reporters on Monday that any delay “would not be acceptable”.
A congressional assistant said a meeting on the issue with some Congressional Republicans would be held at the White House Monday evening. Helpers to Pelosi, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer and other Democrats said there was no indication that a Democrat would be invited to participate.
Schumer called for an immediate briefing from Ratcliffe and Haspel for the 100 senators.
Trump dismissed the reports as “fake news” and turned to Twitter to suggest that the reports were in the media trying to make Republicans look bad.
Senator Marco Rubio, the Republican chairman of the intelligence committee, declined to comment on the reports, saying only on Twitter that the committee “would continue to vigorously monitor” threats to the United States.
(With the exception of the title, this story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
