It’s been exactly four weeks since The New York Times revealed a Russian bounty program to pay the Taliban to kill U.S. soldiers. President Donald Trump has never talked to Russian President Vladimir Putin about the program, as far as Americans know, but now he has missed an opportunity to register a warning with Putin.
On Thursday Trump talked by phone to Putin. The White House “readout” of the call did not mention the Russian-funded program to murder American soldiers.
On Friday MSNBC’s Kristen Welker asked White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany if Trump did talk to Putin about the program – McEnany refused to disclose the contents of their discussion.
She also claimed the report is “unverified” intelligence, which is false. The report has been verified by other news outlets, including at least one that has verified that U.S. soldiers were murdered by the Taliban and paid by Russia. The Times later even identified “a key middleman for bounties.”
“That intelligence is unverified still to this day, there are dissenting opinions within the intel community,” McEnany smoke-screened.
“I won’t get into the president’s discussions with a foreign leader,” she added. “I was not on that call but that intelligence is still unverified.”
“Rest assured,” she claimed, “our president will always stand with our military and protect them against any and every foreign adversary.”
Watch: