Bolton, who has authored a book highly critical of Trump and his administration, told Tapper that the President’s denial on Sunday “is part of the problem with Trump’s … decision-making in the national security space.
“It’s about his personal position,” he said of Trump, noting that if the intelligence reports are true, this “is one of the most serious matters … that has arisen in the Trump administration.”
Earlier Sunday, Trump said in a tweet that “there have not been many attacks” on US troops by Taliban fighters as his evidence that the intelligence — first reported by The New York Times and confirmed by CNN — may be “phony.”
The tweet went a step further than a Saturday statement from the White House, which did not deny the validity of the report, but instead said Trump and Vice President Mike Pence were not briefed “on the alleged Russian bounty intelligence.”
Trump was briefed on the intelligence findings and the White House’s National Security Council held a meeting about it in late March, according to the Times, citing officials briefed on the matter.
