White House Claims Trump Wasn’t Told About Bounties Because There Was No Consensus Among Intel Officials

Bloomberg News reports:

President Donald Trump wasn’t briefed on reports that the Russian government paid bounties for American and allied troops to be killed in Afghanistan because there was no consensus among intelligence officials on the veracity of the claims, said White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany.

McEnany told reporters at the White House on Monday that such intelligence wouldn’t be escalated to the White House without broad agreement among intelligence officials. She didn’t say whether reports of the bounties or the debate in the intelligence community were included in written daily briefs provided to Trump.

“Intelligence is verified before it reaches the president of the United States and in this case it was not verified,” she said, citing “dissenting opinions within the intelligence community.”