By Chris Otaigbe
The White House on Saturday denied President Donald Trump was briefed on the reported U.S. intelligence, adding that even the Vice President, Mike Pence received no such briefing, either.
According to White House Press Secretary, Kayleigh McEnany, the statement did not address the merit of the alleged intelligence reported on Friday by the New York Times.
New York Times had reported that a Russian military intelligence unit, linked to assassination attempts in Europe, offered rewards for successful attacks last year on American and coalition troops.
The newspaper reported that Islamist militants, or armed criminal elements closely associated with them, were believed to have collected some bounty money, adding that Trump was told about the intelligence but had not authorized steps to retaliate.
The Democratic Presidential candidate and Trump’s challenger in the coming political mortal combat for the Presidency of United States of America in November 3 election, Biden, said during a virtual town hall on Saturday that the Times report, if true, represents a “truly shocking revelation,” noting in particular Trump’s reported failure to retaliate.
“Not only has he failed to sanction or impose any kind of consequences on Russia for this egregious violation of international law, Donald Trump has continued his embarrassing campaign of deference and debasing himself before Vladimir Putin,” Biden said, referring to the Russian president.
Pledging retaliation if he becomes president, Biden said, “If I’m elected president, make no mistake about it, Vladimir Putin will be confronted and we’ll impose serious costs on Russia.”
