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Wednesday, July 29, 2020, 22:56
Trump says he never discussed Taliban bounties with Putin
By Bloomberg
Wednesday, July 29, 2020, 22:56 By Bloomberg

US President Donald Trump, left, and Russia's President Vladimir Putin arrive for a news conference in Helsinki, Finland, on July 16, 2018. (PHOTO/BLOOMBERG)

US President Donald Trump says he “never discussed” reports that Russia paid bounties to the Taliban to kill US troops in Afghanistan with Russian President Vladimir Putin, despite having numerous phone calls as recently as last week.

READ MORE: Trump denies being briefed on 'Russian-Taliban' bounties input

“I have never discussed it with him,” Trump told Axios in a video clip posted on Twitter Wednesday. Trump said he didn’t raise the matter in last Thursday’s discussion. “That was a phone call to discuss other things, and frankly that’s an issue that many people said was fake news.”

I have never discussed it with him (Putin). That was a phone call to discuss other things, and frankly that’s an issue that many people said was fake news.

Donald Trump, US President

The interview immediately prompted a response from the campaign of Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden.

“The most critical and sacred obligation of a commander-in-chief is to protect those who serve our nation in harm’s way. But months after the US intelligence community sounded the alarm -- to Donald Trump and to our allies -- that Russia was placing bounties on the heads of American servicemen and women in a war zone, our president continues to turn his back on those who put their lives on the line for our country, and on his own duty,” Biden spokesman Andrew Bates said in a statement.

ALSO READ: Under pressure, White House to brief on Russia-Taliban bounties reports

Axios reported that Trump and Putin have spoken at least eight times since the intelligence community submitted information about the alleged Russian bounties reportedly in the president’s daily brief in February.

Trump said in the interview that evidence about the Russia bounties “never reached my desk” and the White House has maintained the intelligence was inconclusive since the New York Times reported on it in June.

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