Rep. Kinzinger says there’s a ‘political motive’ behind Russian bounties briefing
Illinois Congressman Adam Kinzinger discusses his takeaways from the White House briefing on Russian bounty reports on ‘America’s Newsroom.’
Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., told “America’s Newsroom” on Wednesday that his takeway from a White House briefing on Monday on the alleged bounties Russia put on American soldiers in Afghanistan is that “it’s a really serious issue.”
“Obviously a lot of intelligence is coming out,” Kinzinger said, adding that he “actually read more granular intelligence” on Tuesday and “it's a real deep concern, but I don't know if this is the scandal that the other side is playing it to be.”
Top Democrats in the House of Representatives visited the White House on Tuesday morning for a briefing on the allegations and who at the White House knew about the intelligence and when.
Eight House Republicans, including Kinzinger, were briefed at the White House the day before.
The White House has denied that Trump was briefed on the issue despite reporting to the contrary from outlets like the New York Times, which reported late Monday that the bounty issue was in the written President's Daily Brief earlier this year. It has been widely reported, however, that Trump does not read the detailed brief regularly, and is more often briefed on intelligence issues verbally.
On Wednesday Kinzinger tweeted, “I have seen the intelligence & I want to be clear: this is very serious & deserves a strong reaction, if true.”
PENTAGON SAYS 'NO CORROBORATING' EVIDENCE TO STAND UP NYT REPORT ON RUSSIAN BOUNTIES
“The NYT report does NOT paint the whole picture, and we need to put the politics aside,” he went on to write. “Our outrage should be directed at [Russian president Vladimir] Putin.”
Speaking on “America’s Newsroom” on Wednesday Kinzinger said, “I think the important thing here is that we tried to do our best to step away from, especially my friends on the other side of the aisles’ accusations of basically malfeasance and say, ‘We need to get to the bottom of this’ and then respond if we find out it's true.”
On Monday, Kinzinger and Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, issued a joint statement on the White House briefing.
“There are already those who are politicizing this issue, however we cannot let politics overshadow a truth that Republicans and Democrats alike can agree on: the Putin regime cannot be trusted,” the statement said.
“If the intelligence review process verifies the reports, we strongly encourage the administration to take swift and serious action to hold the Putin regime accountable.”
Speaking on CNN, Rep. Mikie Sherrill, D-N.J., said “something that we asked for … at the briefing was that the president come out and reassure the nation that he has our back, reassure the nation that he’s going to get to the bottom of this and if these reports are verified, that Russia will face repercussions.”
“I agree with her,” Kinzinger said on Wednesday. “I think the president should reassure the nation.”
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“Keep in mind he killed the guy that killed 600 Americans, [Iranian Gen. Qassem] Soleimani,” he continued. “My friends on the other side of the aisle said it was going to start World War III.”
Fox News’ Tyler Olson contributed to this report.
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