Following bombshell allegations that the Russian government offered Taliban militants secret bounties for killing U.S. troops, the Trump administration on Monday invited a bloc of eight GOP lawmakers to the White House for a briefing where administration officials insisted that there was conflicting intelligence on the matter. However, the White House reportedly refrained from divulging a key piece of evidence which legal experts say casts further doubts on the Trump administration’s shifting excuses about what it knew and direct claims from the president that the entire ordeal is a “ hoax.”
According to a Tuesday report from the New York Times, U.S. intelligence officials had supported the contention that the Russian military was running a bounty program with intercepted electronic data “showing large financial transfers from a bank account controlled by Russia’s military intelligence agency to a Taliban-linked account.”
According to the Times report, which was sourced to three officials familiar with the intelligence, “[t]he intercepts bolstered the findings gleaned from the interrogations, helping reduce an earlier disagreement among intelligence analysts and agencies over the reliability of the detainees.”
“The disclosures further undercut White House officials’ claim that the intelligence was too uncertain to brief President Trump,” the report went on to say. “In fact, the information was provided to him in his daily written brief in late February, two officials have said.”
University of Texas law professor Steve Vladeck, a noted expert in national security law and military justice, lamented the administration’s apparent decision to intentionally mislead lawmakers.
“It’s almost impressive how the Trump White House keeps making this series of scandals *worse*,” Vladeck wrote. “It’s bad enough that they lied all weekend about what they knew and when; now it turns out that they even misled the hand-picked congressional Republicans who they ‘briefed’ yesterday.”
It's almost impressive how the Trump White House keeps making this series of scandals *worse*.
It's bad enough that they lied all weekend about what they knew and when; now it turns out that they even misled the hand-picked congressional Republicans who they "briefed" yesterday. t.co
— Steve Vladeck (@steve_vladeck) June 30, 2020
Law professor Harry Litman, a former Deputy Assistant Attorney General and U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania, said that under normal circumstances, revelations that the president was derelict in his duties to this degree would prompt serious discussions about impeachment.
“Beginning of trail was intercept of bank data showing large financial transfers from a bank account controlled by Russia’s military intelligence agency to a Taliban-linked account. 2 officials confirm Trump was briefed. In a different time, we’d be talking impeachment,” Litman wrote.
Beginning of trail was intercept of bank data showing large financial transfers from a bank account controlled by Russia’s military intelligence agency to a Taliban-linked account. 2 officials confirm Trump was briefed. In a different time, we'd be talking impeachment.
— Harry Litman (@harrylitman) June 30, 2020
Former Intelligence Community attorney Susan Hennessey said the intel leaks were a self-inflicted wound caused by the administration’s own mendacity, while Harvard law professor Laurence Tribe lambasted the response as “stupefying stupid.”
This is yet another example of the Trump administration lies about classified information causing additional leaks. t.co
— Susan Hennessey (@Susan_Hennessey) June 30, 2020
Staggering — and stupefyingly stupid — Trump attempt at concealment in #BountyGate t.co
— Laurence Tribe (@tribelaw) June 30, 2020
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