Trump Confronted on Whether He Spoke With Putin About Russian Bounties, Dodges: ‘We Don’t Talk About What We Discuss’

President Donald Trump was confronted about whether he spoke with President Vladimir Putin about Russia’s involvement in a Taliban bounty program that incentivized the killing of United States troops during an address in North Carolina Monday afternoon.

Kevin Freking of the Associated Press asked, “You did talk with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and I wanted to ask if you did bring it up reports of Russia having bounties on our soldiers?”

“We don’t talk about what we discuss,” Trump responded. “But we had plenty of discussion, and I think it was very productive.”

A June 26 report from the New York Times cited U.S. intelligence officials detailing a Russia-funded bounty program to kill US soldiers. It also claimed Trump knew about it for months. All three major networks covered the story and The Washington Post reported about new details about the operation in the days following the initial report.

White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany ridiculed the Times for inaccuracies [though she never specified what they were] and retired general Colin Powell criticized the media for its “almost hysterical” coverage of the program.

On Sunday, CNN’s Jake Tapper singled out members of the media including Fox’s Chris Wallace for not asking the president if he’s spoken to Putin about the reported bounty program.

“Even in the wake of this news, interviewers posed questions about tweets, questions about whether the president is too mean to the interviewer,” Tapper said on CNN, taking a shot at Wallace. “Nothing about the Russia bounty story or those three marines. Not one word.”

Even though Trump was asked about his discussions with Putin on Monday, the president would not provide any new information about Russia’s involvement.

Watch above, via Fox News.

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