Practice English Speaking&Listening with: New Information Bolsters Reports On Russian Bounty Intelligence, As Trump Calls It A 'Hoax' | MSNBC
>>> PRESIDENT TRUMP IS FACING
>>> PRESIDENT TRUMP IS FACING
MORE QUESTIONS TODAY ABOUT WHAT
HE KNEW ABOUT THE REPORTS THAT
RUSSIA PAID THE TALIBAN TO KILL
AMERICAN TROOPS IN AFGHANISTAN
AND WHY HE HAS NOT TAKEN ACTION.
"THE NEW YORK TIMES" IS
REPORTING THAT AMERICAN
OFFICIALS INTERCEPTED ELECTRONIC
DATA SHOWING LARGE FINANCIAL
TRANSFERS FROM A BANK ACCOUNT
CONTROLLED BY RUSSIA’S MILITARY
INTELLIGENCE AGENCY, THE GRU, TO
A TALIBAN-LINKED ACCOUNT,
ACCORDING TO THREE OFFICIALS
FAMILIAR WITH THE INTELLIGENCE.
THE PRESIDENT IS TWEETING TODAY,
"THIS IS ALL A MADE-UP FAKE NEWS
MEDIA HOAX, STARTED TO SLANDER
ME AND THE REPUBLICAN PARTY."
JOINING ME NOW IS NBC WHITE
HOUSE CORRESPONDENT KRISTEN
WELKER, PHIL RUCKER, WHITE HOUSE
BUREAU CHIEF FOR "THE WASHINGTON
POST," AND CHARLIE SAVAGE,
WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT FOR
"THE NEW YORK TIMES," PART OF
THE TEAM THAT BROKE THE STORY ON
ALL OF THIS.
CHARLIE, YOU’VE NOW REPORTED IN
"THE NEW YORK TIMES" ABOUT THIS
MONEY TRANSFER AND THAT ADDED TO
THE GROWING ACCUMULATED
INFORMATION THAT LED
INTELLIGENCE OFFICIALS TO TAKE
THIS MORE SERIOUSLY.
NOW YOU’VE GOT THE PRESIDENT’S
TWEET GOING BACK AGAINST THIS.
TELL US WHAT YOU KNOW AND HOW
SERIOUSLY YOU THINK THIS SHOULD
BE TAKEN.
>> RIGHT.
WELL, SO THE SIGNIFICANCE OF
THIS NEW INFORMATION, WHICH BY
THE WAY WAS WITHHELD FROM
CONGRESS IN THOSE INITIAL
BRIEFINGS THEY HAD EARLIER THIS
WEEK WHEN JUST MEMBERS OF ONE
PARTY AND THEN THE OTHER FROM
THE HOUSE WERE BROUGHT INTO THE
WHITE HOUSE, IS THAT THE
INTELLIGENCE PORTRAIT SUPPORTING
THE ANALYTICAL CONCLUSION THAT
THIS WAS REAL AND WAS HAPPENING
EVOLVED OVER TIME.
INITIALLY THERE WERE SOME
DETAINEES CAPTURED IN
AFGHANISTAN, SOME TALIBAN
MILITANTS, SOME CRIMINALS FROM A
NETWORK THAT WORKED CLOSELY WITH
THE TALIBAN, WHO TOLD
INTERROGATORS IT WAS HAPPENING.
AND THERE WAS A DISAGREEMENT
AMONG DIFFERENT AGENCIES OVER
WHETHER TO CREDIT AND BELIEVE
THOSE INTERROGATION.
AND THE NSA IN PARTICULAR, WHICH
SEES SIGNAL INTELLIGENCE, DATA
TRANSFERS AND SURVEILLANCE TO
BACK UP THINGS, HAD MORE DOUBTS
AND QUESTIONS ABOUT THIS HUMAN
INTELLIGENCE THAN THE CIA AND
THE MILITARY DID.
OVER TIME, THEY ALSO FOUND,
EITHER INTERCEPTED IN REAL TIME
OR FOUND IN THE RAW REPOSITORY
OF INTERCEPTS THAT THE NSA IS
DOING ALL THE TIME AND THROWS
INTO A DATABASES AND HUNTS
THROUGH LATER ON, DATA SHOWING
FINANCIAL TRANSFERS FROM A BANK
ACCOUNT CONTROLLED BY THE GRU,
THE RUSSIAN MILITARY
INTELLIGENCE SERVICE, TO THIS
TALIBAN-LINKED ACCOUNT.
AND THEN THERE WAS A RAID ABOUT
SIX MONTHS AGO ON THIS NETWORK
WHERE THEY CAPTURED A BUNCH OF
PEOPLE AND THE RINGLEADER,
APPARENTLY, A MAJOR PERSON AS AN
INTERMEDIARY DISTRIBUTING MONEY
AS REWARD FOR PEOPLE FOR ATTACKS
ON U.S. TROOPS, FLED TO RUSSIA.
THE INITIAL INTELLIGENCE DOUBTS
WERE REDUCED AFTER THIS
ADDITIONAL DATA CAME IN.
WE THINK THAT THE
ADMINISTRATION, IN TRYING TO
JUSTIFY ITS INACCURATE CLAIM
THAT TRUMP WAS NEVER TOLD ABOUT
THIS EVEN THOUGH IT WAS IN HIS
FEBRUARY 27, APPARENTLY,
PRESIDENTIAL DAILY WRITTEN
BRIEFING, WHETHER OR NOT HE
BOTHERED TO READ IT, EVEN THOUGH
THEY’RE CLAIMING HE WASN’T TOLD
AND EVEN THOUGH THEY TOOK IT
SERIOUSLY ENOUGH TO DEVELOP A
MENU OF OPTIONS, A LATE MARCH
NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL
CONVENED MEETING, BUT THE WHITE
HOUSE HAS NOT RESPONDED EVEN
DIPLOMATICALLY.
THEY JUSTIFIED THIS BY SAYING
THERE WAS DISAGREEMENT OVER
WHETHER IT WAS REAL OR NOT SO IT
WAS NEVER BRIEFED TO HIM AND
WASN’T IMPORTANT.
BUT THEY’VE BEEN TELLING
CONGRESS ONLY THE FIRST PART OF
THAT STORY AND NOT THE
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION THAT THEN
SOLIDIFIED IT.
>> THERE WAS TO BE A GANG OF
EIGHT INTEL LEADERSHIP BRIEFING
FOR THE CONGRESS TODAY.
IT’S APPARENTLY BEEN MOVED TO
TOMORROW.
BUT I WANTED TO PLAY ALSO FOR
ALL OF YOU WHAT THE SECRETARY OF
STATE HAD TO SAY TODAY IN
DISMISSING THIS NEW INFORMATION
IN "THE NEW YORK TIMES."
>> MONEY FLOWING TO AFGHANISTAN
TO SUPPORT THE TALIBAN HAS BEEN
GOING ON SINCE WE WENT TO
AFGHANISTAN NOW ALMOST TWO
DECADES AGO.
IT’S NOT JUST THE RUSSIANS.
INDEED, PROBABLY NOT MAJORITY
RUSSIANS.
MONEY HAS FLOWED FROM LOTS OF
PLACES, FROM IRAN, EVEN TODAY,
THE IRANIANS CONTINUE TO
UNDERMINE WHAT WE’RE TRYING TO
ACCOMPLISH IN TERMS OF PEACE AND
RECONCILIATION IN AFGHANISTAN.
>> I MEAN, IT JUST STRIKES ME
THAT EVERYTHING GOES BACK TO
IRAN.
NO ONE IS IN THIS INSTANCE
ACCUSING IRAN OF TRYING TO KILL
AMERICANS. AND WHEN THEY HAVE IN THE PAST,
AND WHEN THEY HAVE IN THE PAST,
WE TOOK ACTION, WE TOOK OUT SOME
QASSEM SOLEIMANI.
BUT KRISTEN WELKER, IT’S THE
SPECIFIC ALLEGATION HERE THAT
THE MILITARY INTELLIGENCE FROM
RUSSIA, LED BY VLADIMIR PUTIN,
DID THIS ALLEGEDLY, OR AT LEAST
THAT IS PART OF THE ASSESSMENT
GOING ON NOW, AND THAT THEY HAVE
NOT TAKEN ANY ACTION AND IN FACT
THAT THE PRESIDENT HAD SIX PHONE
CALLS WITH VLADIMIR PUTIN AFTER
THIS INFORMATION WAS BEGINNING
TO COME TOGETHER, AND NO ONE
BRIEFED HIM TO BRING IT UP ON THE CALL, GIVE SOME KIND OF
THE CALL, GIVE SOME KIND OF
REACTION, OR AT SOME LOWER LEVEL
TO DE MARCHMARCHE THE RUSSIANS.
>> THAT’S RIGHT, AND WHAT WE’RE
HEARING FROM THE SECRETARY OF
STATE, HE WAS MAKING THE POINT
THAT RUSSIAN AGGRESSION IN THAT
REGION IS NOT NEW.
ONE OF THE REPORTERS SHOUTED
OUT, "BUT DOES THIS NOT
POTENTIALLY MARK AN ESCALATION?"
WE DIDN’T HEAR THE SECRETARY’S
RESPONSE ON THAT.
I DID HAVE A CHANCE TO PRESS
NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER ROBERT
O’BRIEN ABOUT THIS EARLIER
TODAY, I ASKED HIM SPECIFICALLY
ABOUT THE PRESIDENT’S CLAIM THAT
THIS IS ALL A HOAX.
AND ANDREA, HERE IS WHAT HE TOLD
ME.
HE SAID THAT WHAT IS A HOAX IS
THE INITIAL REPORTING THAT THE
PRESIDENT WAS BRIEFED ON THIS
AND CHOSE NOT TO ACT.
THE WHITE HOUSE NOW SAYING OF
COURSE THAT THE CIA BRIEFER
WITHHELD THIS INFORMATION FROM
BRIEFINGS WITH THE PRESIDENT.
BUT OF COURSE IT DOES RAISE A
KEY QUESTION, ANDREA, WHY THEN
WAS CONGRESS BRIEFED ON THIS
APPARENTLY IN FEBRUARY AND MAY
BEFORE PRESIDENT TRUMP, WHY WAS
THIS NOT BROUGHT TO HIS
ATTENTION?
OF COURSE WE HAVE REPORTING THAT
IT WAS INCLUDED IN A WRITTEN
BRIEFING AS FAR BACK AS 2019.
THE WHITE HOUSE INSISTS THE
PRESIDENT DOES READ HIS PDBs,
HIS PRESIDENTIAL DAILY BRIEFS,
BUT STILL NO WORD SPECIFICALLY
ON WHETHER HE READ THIS ONE, THE
DAILY BRIEF THAT WOULD INCLUDE
THIS CRITICAL INFORMATION.
SO THIS IS A PRESIDENT THAT IS
ON DEFENSE AND CLEARLY
STRUGGLING TO FIND HIS MESSAGING
BECAUSE OF COURSE A HOAX IS
SOMETHING HE USED TO DESCRIBE
THE RUSSIA INVESTIGATION AND
THIS IS A VERY DIFFERENT MATTER.
AMERICAN LIVES POTENTIALLY AT
STAKE, ANDREA.
>> AND AS YOU KNOW VERY WELL,
KAYLEIGH McENANY, THE WHITE
HOUSE PRETTYSS SECRETARY, HAS
DISMISSED THIS.
PHIL, I WANT TO GET YOU TO REACT
TO SOMETHING SHE SAID YESTERDAY.
>> THE PRESIDENT DOES READ.
AND HE ALSO CONSUMES
INTELLIGENCE VERBALLY.
THIS PRESIDENT, I’LL TELL YOU,
IS THE MOST INFORMED PERSON ON
PLANET EARTH WHEN IT COMES TO
THE THREATS WE FACE.
HE’S CONSTANTLY BEING INFORMED
AND BRIEFED ON INTELLIGENCE
MATTERS.
BUT I’M NOT GOING TO ALLOW "THE
NEW YORK TIMES" TO DICTATE WHEN
WE GIVE TOP SECRET INFORMATION
AND DON’T GIVE TOP SECRET
INFORMATION.
>> PHIL, YOU LITERALLY WROTE THE
BOOK ON WHETHER THE PRESIDENT IS
A VERY STABLE GENIUS AND IS THE
MOST INFORMED PERSON ON PLANET
EARTH.
DISCUSS.
>> ANDREA, THE TRUTH IS HE’S
NOT.
AND THAT’S BEEN ESTABLISHED
THROUGH OUR REPORTING OVER THE
LAST SEVERAL YEARS.
HE DOES NOT READ THE
PRESIDENTIAL DAILY BRIEF WITH
ANY REGULARITY AND THAT HAS
ALARMED A NUMBER OF PEOPLE WHO
SERVE HIM IN NATIONAL SECURITY
AND AT THE WHITE HOUSE.
THEY’RE VERY CONCERNED THAT HE
DOESN’T HAVE PATIENCE FOR
UNDERSTANDING NUANCE OR BASIC
INFORMATION ABOUT WORLD AFFAIRS
OR WORLD GEOGRAPHY.
SO IT WOULD CERTAINLY BE IN
KEEPING WITH HIS PAST PRACTICES
FOR HIM TO NOT HAVE READ THIS
DETAIL IN THE PDB OR PERHAPS IF
HE DID READ IT AND PERHAPS NOT
TO THINK ABOUT IT TOO CLEARLY OR
SPECIFICALLY.
THIS IS NOT A PRESIDENT WHO
BECOMES ENGROSSED IN THE DETAILS
AND AMASSES KNOWLEDGE.
RATHER, HE TRUSTS HIS GUT AND
