Trump did not confront Putin over Russian Taliban bounty reports
President Donald Trump told Axios that he never questioned Russian President Vladimir Putin about reports that Russia paid the Taliban to kill American troops in Afghanistan.
“I have never discussed it with him,” Trump said in an interview on Tuesday with “Axios on HBO.” The full interview has not been broadcast yet and will be available on Monday 3 of August.
Trump said he was not briefed on the matter by US intelligence before it emerged in news media in late June, calling the reports a "hoax".
National security adviser Robert O’Brien said Trump was not verbally briefed on the intelligence because his CIA briefer concluded the reports were uncorroborated.
The two leaders shared a phone call on Thursday and when asked about why he didn’t bring up the subject, the President said: “That was a phone call to discuss other things, and frankly that’s an issue that many people said was fake news.”