Former White House national security adviser John Bolton said Sunday that a tweet from President Trump denying he had been briefed on reported Russian bounties placed on U.S. troops in Afghanistan was typical behavior for the president.
“There’s a lot we don’t know, so we should be cautious, but from what we do know from the president’s own tweets this morning, to me it looks like just another day at the office in the Trump White House,” Bolton said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
Similarly, Bolton said on CNN’s “State of the Union” that while he doesn’t know about this specific situation, it “sounds like a story” he could’ve written in his new memoir about his time at the Trump White House.
He said Trump’s tweet denying the report is an effort to shift the responsibility away from himself.
“What would motivate the president to do that? Because it looks bad if Russians are paying to kill Americans and we’re not doing anything about it,” Bolton said. “So what what is the presidential reaction, is to say, ‘It’s not my responsibility. Nobody told me about it’ and therefore to duck any complaints that he hasn’t acted effectively.”
“This is part of the problem with President Trump’s decisionmaking in the national security space. It’s just unconnected to the reality he’s dealing with. It’s about his personal position,” Bolton added.
If the reports are true, Bolton said the U.S. should “consider a number of strong measures against Russia.”
The New York Times reported Friday that U.S. intelligence officials concluded earlier this year that a Russian military unit covertly tried to offer rewards to Taliban-linked militants for killing coalition forces in Afghanistan, including U.S. troops.
Trump tweeted early Sunday that “nobody briefed or told” him, Vice President Pence or chief of staff Mark Meadows about the “so-called attacks on our troops in Afghanistan by Russians.”
“Everybody is denying it & there have not been many attacks on us. Nobody’s been tougher on Russia than the Trump Administration. With Corrupt Joe Biden & Obama, Russia had a field day, taking over important parts of Ukraine – Where’s Hunter? Probably just another phony Times hit job, just like their failed Russia Hoax. Who is their ‘source’?” Trump tweeted.
The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post and Fox News have also published reports confirming The New York Times’s reporting.