Dem Leader Hoyer Rejects Trump’s Claim Russian Bounty Story is a ‘Hoax’ After Briefing on Intelligence
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) hit back at President Donald Trump for dismissing U.S. intelligence on Russian bounties against American troops as “another fabricated Russia Hoax.”
Hoyer and his colleagues addressed reporters on Tuesday after House Democrats concluded their White House intelligence briefing on intelligence that Russia offered bounties to Taliban-militias to target U.S. troops. Hoyer condemned Trump for claiming on Twitter that the intelligence is a “hoax” that he wasn’t briefed on because it wasn’t credible.
“The president called this a hoax publicly,” Hoyer told reporters. “Nothing in the briefing that we have just received led me to believe it is a hoax. There may be different judgments as to the level of credibility, but there was no assertion that the information we had that was a hoax.”
Intel just reported to me that they did not find this info credible, and therefore did not report it to me or @VP. Possibly another fabricated Russia Hoax, maybe by the Fake News @nytimesbooks, wanting to make Republicans look bad!!! https://t.co/cowOmP7T1S
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 29, 2020
Trump’s claim to have not been briefed is contradicted by multiple news reports that he was briefed on the Russian bounty intel. One reportedly occurred last year during a conversation with former White House national security adviser John Bolton. In another, Trump reportedly received the information in a written briefing in February.
Watch above, via MSNBC.
