White House: Trump and Pence Were Not Briefed on Russia Paying Taliban Bounties to Kill American Soldiers

White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany denied Saturday that President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence had been briefed on the intelligence community’s conclusion that Russian agents paid bounties to the Taliban to kill American and coalition forces in Afghanistan. The New York Times reported Friday that the president had been notified of the matter. “The CIA Director, National Security Advisor, and the Chief of Staff can all confirm that neither the President nor the Vice President were briefed on the alleged Russian bounty intelligence...The United States receives thousands of intelligence reports a day, and they are subject to strict scrutiny,” McEnany said in a statement. The denial raises the question of why the president and vice president were not briefed if the heads of U.S. intelligence agencies knew of the explosive finding.