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The intelligence, which will be declassified by the Trump administration, was provided to the president in his daily brief on December 17, the official said. His national security adviser Robert O’Brien discussed the information with the president the same day, the official said.
Information from this alleged intelligence has so far been unsubstantiated. The script recalls reports released earlier this year that Russia offered bounties to Afghan militants to kill US forces in Afghanistan. This information was also included in the President’s intelligence briefing, although it was later revealed that the information likely went unnoticed for weeks.
Trump has yet to publicly call on Russia on the matter.
While it is not clear whether President-elect Joe Biden saw the information, he would have had access to the same information since receiving the President’s Daily Bulletin.
The White House and Biden’s transition team did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
CNN reported in June that Russian intelligence officers from the military intelligence agency GRU recently offered money to Taliban militants in Afghanistan as a reward if they killed American or British troops there, according to an official with the European intelligence. The official told CNN that the incentives offered by the Russians had, according to their assessment, resulted in coalition casualties, believed to be deaths or injuries of service members. The official did not specify the date of the victims, their number or nationality, or whether they were dead or injured.
A US official with knowledge of the matter confirmed to CNN at the time that there was information indicating money had been transferred, but it is not clear how the information in question was verified or with whom exactly the representatives. from this Russian unit approached – senior leaders commanding field units located near the coalition forces.
U.S. intelligence had concluded months earlier that Russian military intelligence had offered the bounties, amid peace talks, and Trump had been briefed on the findings of intelligence services and the House National Security Council- Blanche had held a meeting on the matter in late March, according to the New York Times, citing officials briefed on the matter.
After the news broke in June, Trump denied receiving an intelligence briefing. He tweeted that “there haven’t been many attacks” on US troops by Taliban fighters because he proved the reported intelligence could be “false” – one step further than an earlier statement. of the White House in which press secretary Kayleigh McEnany did not. deny the report’s validity, but instead said Trump and Vice President Mike Pence had not been made aware of “the alleged Russian bonus intelligence.”
There were discussions as early as February and March in the US intelligence community and among key military commanders about the Russian operation to assess intelligence and what exactly was going on, a US official told CNN in June. . There have been efforts to protect US forces because of the intelligence, the source also said.
This is a breaking story and will be updated.
Paul LeBlanc, Nick Paton Walsh, Veronica Stracqualursi, Radina Gigova, Barbara Starr, Devan Cole and Sarah Westwood contributed to this report.
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