Trump says US intelligence did not find reports about Russian bounties on US troops 'credible' and therefore did not report it to him

• President Donald Trump on Sunday denied knowing that US intelligence suspected Russia of secretly offering bounties to Taliban-linked militants to kill coalition forces in Afghanistan.
• The New York Times detailed the allegations on Friday and cited unnamed intelligence officials as saying Trump was made aware of the matter in March but chose not to act.
• In a tweet on Sunday, Trump said US intel "did not find this info credible" and did not report it to him or Vice President Mike Pence. He called the Times report "possibly another fabricated Russia Hoax."

President Donald Trump on Sunday denied knowing that US intelligence suspected Russia of secretly offering bounties to Taliban-linked militants to kill American troops.

The New York Times on Friday detailed the allegations on Friday, citing unnamed intelligence officials as saying that Russia was thought to have covertly offered money to Taliban-linked militants to kill coalition forces in Afghanistan. The officials told The Times that Trump was made aware of the matter in March but chose not to act.

On Saturday, the White House press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany, said neither Trump nor Vice President Mike Pence had been briefed on the intelligence.

"The United States receives thousands of intelligence reports a day, and they are subject to strict scrutiny," McEnany said.

In a tweet Sunday, Trump said US intel "did not find this info credible" and did not report it to him or Pence. He called the Times report "possibly another fabricated Russia Hoax."

In an earlier tweet, Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham had said it was "imperative Congress get to the bottom" of The Times' report.

On Saturday, former Vice President Joe Biden, Trump's presumptive 2020 Democratic challenger, said at a virtual town hall that the report indicated that Trump betrayed his duties as president.

"It's a betrayal of the most sacred duty we bear as a nation to protect and equip our troops when we send them into harm's way," Biden said. "It's a betrayal of every single American family with a loved one serving in Afghanistan or anywhere overseas."

The Russian Foreign Ministry said the allegations were fabricated by US intelligence agencies.

"That unpretentious fake clearly demonstrates low intellectual abilities of US intelligence propagandists who have to invent such nonsense instead of devising something more credible," the Foreign Ministry said, according to the state-owned TASS news agency.