BTW: Jared gets the PDB too...
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Some senators proposed new sanctions and designating Moscow as a state sponsor of terrorism.
www.politico.com
Senate Republicans squeeze Trump over Russian bounties
Some senators proposed new sanctions and designating Moscow as a state sponsor of terrorism.
Senate Republicans are vowing to get to the bottom of bombshell reports that Russia offered bounties to Afghan militants for targeted killings of U.S. troops overseas — and suggesting that retaliation against Moscow may be in order.
Key committee chairs made clear on Monday that they will press the White House for answers about the intelligence assessments, and GOP senators pushed President Donald Trump to exact severe punishments on the Kremlin if the claims are true — even as the president asserts that he was never briefed on the matter.
“I want to understand how it’s conceivably possible that the president didn’t know. How does that possibly happen?” Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) said. “Number two, what is their plan to make sure that our enemies know that if you target American servicemen and women, the consequences are going to be draconian? And right now, I want to hear their plan for Taliban and GRU agents in body bags.” GRU refers to Russia’s military intelligence agency.
Senators have already proposed harsh repercussions, including imposing new sanctions and designating Moscow as a state sponsor of terrorism — a step the Trump administration has thus far refused to take.
But some lawmakers are urging restraint, after White House officials
briefed House Republicans earlier Monday and explained that there was an ongoing review of the bounty claims even before they were revealed in media reports. Senators said they would be reviewing documents related to the matter in a secure facility this week.
“It is important to be cautious on intelligence writ large, because when it’s proven to not be accurate, it can lead to things like a war or other measures that proved to be counterproductive,” Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), the acting chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, told reporters. “You pull out one little piece and you put it in the public domain and you act like it was some smoking gun situation. So that’s one of the reasons I just don’t comment on reports such as these.”
The Senate GOP’s pressure on the White House could reopen a rift between Trump and Republicans when it comes to the U.S. relationship with Moscow. Congressional Republicans, including Rubio and other GOP leaders, have typically shown more antipathy and distrust toward Russia than the president.
In addition to Monday afternoon’s briefing for House Republicans, a group of House Democrats is slated to receive a briefing on Tuesday morning. But as of Monday evening, senators had no official word on when they would get the full story on what lawmakers described as an outrageous plot to assassinate American troops.
Asked whether there was any progress on scheduling a briefing, Senate Armed Services Chair Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) bluntly said: “No.” Senate Republicans indicated on Monday that they would continue to press for a classified briefing.
“I think it’s incumbent on the administration to brief Congress, and they’re in the process of doing it,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said.
“I want to get the facts. Does it surprise me about [Russian President Vladimir] Putin? He’s our adversary, he supports Iran, he’s a thug,” Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) added.
Trump, meanwhile, has been defensive over the initial reports. He attacked the news media for reporting on the intelligence assessments and offered no words of condemnation for the Kremlin, which Democratic leaders emphasized as they called for briefings for all members of Congress.
Moreover, many Republicans do not appear to be taking the White House’s pushback at face value, with some arguing that the president should have been briefed on an issue as serious as this one. Democrats, meanwhile, have highlighted Trump’s efforts to readmit Russia into the Group of Eight summit nations amid initial reports that he was briefed about the alleged bounty offers but did nothing in response.
Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), vice chairman of the Intelligence Committee, said the ordeal “raises enormous questions about why this administration continues to kowtow to Putin and Russia.”
A Western defense official confirmed to POLITICO on Monday that Russia’s GRU put out bounties for American and British coalition fighters in Afghanistan. The New York Times first reported on the U.S. intelligence assessment, adding that Trump was briefed on the matter earlier this year.
The White House has offered conflicting responses in the wake of the initial reports, which were followed by stories from the Times and Washington Post that at least one and possibly several U.S. service members were killed as a result of the bounties.
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www.cnn.com
