Former national security adviser says the Russian bounty reports show Trump is 'surrounded by sycophants and weaklings who aren't doing their jobs'

• The former national security adviser Susan Rice on Sunday said the Trump administration's narrative on the suspected Russian bounty plot didn't add up.
• "I don't buy this story that he was never briefed," Rice said of President Donald Trump in an interview with Andrea Mitchell on NBC's "Meet the Press."
• "We have a president who is doing our arch-adversary's bidding, it would seem," said Rice, who served as President Barack Obama's adviser from 2013 to 2017. "And he is surrounded by sycophants and weaklings who aren't doing their jobs."
• Russia is suspected of paying bounties to Taliban-linked militants to kill US troops in Afghanistan. The White House has claimed Trump was never briefed on the intelligence, but recent reporting suggests otherwise.

The former US national security adviser Susan Rice on Sunday excoriated the Trump administration over the suspected Russian bounty plot, accusing President Donald Trump of doing "our arch-adversary's bidding."

The Obama administration adviser rejected the White House's assertion that President Donald Trump was never briefed on US intelligence suggesting Russia was paying bounties to Taliban-linked militants to kill US troops in Afghanistan.

"I don't buy this story that he was never briefed," Rice said in an interview with Andrea Mitchell on NBC's "Meet the Press."

"I believe that over a year ago, when the information first came to light in 2019, that my successor John Bolton would have walked straight into the Oval Office, as I would have, and informed the president of this intelligence," added Rice, who advised President Barack Obama from 2013 to 2017.

—Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) July 5, 2020

A recent Associated Press report cited unnamed sources as saying Bolton had told colleagues he briefed Trump on the intelligence in March 2019. The New York Times also reported that the intel was included in the president's written daily briefing in late February of this year.

The intelligence describing the suspected plot was gleaned from interrogations of captured Afghan militants and criminals, according to reporting from The Times, and was bolstered by electronic data intercepted by American officials showing large financial transfers between Russia's military-intelligence agency and a Taliban-linked account. The White House is not believed to have responded against Russia.

'None of this adds up'

The Trump administration has downplayed the intelligence, rejected reports on the intel as unsubstantiated, and repeatedly said the president was never briefed on it.

Trump has suggested the intelligence is "Fake News," even though the White House last week said the president had by that time been "fully briefed" on the matter. The administration has also been briefing members of Congress on the intelligence.

Trump has garnered a reputation as a president who's averse to details and doesn't pay attention to or read briefings. He's also been accused by critics of behaving in a subservient manner to Russian President Vladimir Putin, and CNN recently reported that Trump's angry reactions to intelligence warnings on Russia led his national security team to brief him less and less on Russia-related threats to the US.

Along these lines, Mitchell on Sunday asked Rice why Trump would not have raised the matter with Putin during six phone calls that took place after February 27, when the intelligence was said to have been included in the president's daily written briefing.

"None of this adds up," Rice said. "We have a president who is doing our arch adversary's bidding, it would seem. And he is surrounded by sycophants and weaklings who aren't doing their jobs."

Rice said the president's advisers didn't have the confidence to "bring the president the tough messages he needs to hear."

• Read more:
• Russia did pay extremists to attack US soldiers in Afghanistan, according to 3 separate Taliban sources
• Ex-spies say Trump's claim that no one told him Russia may have been paying militants to kill US troops is 'horses---'
• Trump reportedly briefed on Russia paying militants to kill US troops the same day he had a 45-minute meeting on the dramatized CPAC play 'FBI Lovebirds: Undercovers'
• Family of dead Marine says US 'absolutely' needs to launch investigation into Taliban attack with suspected Russian ties