Wednesday on Fox News Channel’s “America’s Newsroom,” Rep. Chris Stewart (R-UT) responded to the reports that Russian intelligence offered Afghan militants bounties to kill U.S. soldiers, and the White House knew about it but did nothing.
Stewart, who acknowledged Russia “isn’t above trying to kill U.S. soldiers,” pushed back against the “premise” that President Donald Trump had been briefed on the intelligence and then withheld action, calling it “nuts.”
“There’s nothing that I wouldn’t do to protect our soldiers, but President Trump feels exactly the same way,” Stewart said. “The whole premise of this story is that he wouldn’t protect our soldiers, that he doesn’t care about their safety, and he somehow is deferring to Vladimir Putin. I just think the whole premise of it is nuts. And by the way, how many times have we seen this? It’s so predictable where you have this anonymous leak. It’s clearly designed to weaken or embarrass the president, and so many people run with it.”
“I mean, my gosh, Vladimir Putin wants to weaken, to embarrass, to diminish the United States all over the world, and he certainly isn’t above trying to kill U.S. soldiers, especially in areas as volatile as the Middle East or Afghanistan or Pakistan,” he continued. “How can that surprise anyone that that might be true?”
Stewart went on to say that the report should be investigated to determine if there is truth to it.
Follow Trent Baker on Twitter @MagnifiTrent