Russia and Putin · First term · № 60
Said he had never raised reported Russian bounties on U.S. troops with Putin
“I have never discussed it with him. No. I would. I'd have no problem with it.”
- Said
- , Interview with Jonathan Swan, Axios on HBO
- Subject
- Bounties and Putin call
- Type
- Intelligence and security
- Topic
- Foreign policy
- Era
- First term
What happened
Trump spoke with Putin by phone on July 23, 2020. In an interview recorded on July 28 for Axios on HBO, he said he had not raised the reported bounties on that call, which he said was about other subjects including nuclear proliferation, and that he had never discussed them with Putin. He said the matter was "an issue that many people said was fake news." The next day he told reporters he would be "very angry" if the intelligence were true. In April 2021 the Biden administration said the intelligence community had only "low to moderate confidence" in the bounty reports.
Sources
- Interview with Jonathan Swan of Axios
- Trump says he never discussed alleged Russian bounties in calls with Putin
- Trump says he didn’t bring up bounties against US troops in recent call with Putin
- Trump Says He Never Questioned Putin About Reports That Russia Paid Taliban To Kill U.S. Troops
- Remember those Russian bounties for dead U.S. troops? Biden admin says the CIA intel is not conclusive