President Trump was briefed as early as March 2019 on intelligence that Russia was offering bounties to the Taliban to kill American soldiers in Afghanistan, according to a new report. The Associated Press, citing U.S. officials with direct knowledge, says then-National Security Adviser John Bolton told colleagues he gave Trump the details of the situation that March, and it was also included in a daily written briefing back then. That timeline would mean the White House was aware of the intelligence a year earlier than others have reported since the story broke—and before an April 2019 car bombing that killed three Marines could be tied to the alleged plot. The White House claims that Trump was never briefed.
