White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany is accusing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) of “playing politics” while insisting the reports about Russian bounties on U.S. troops are false.
During a brief discussion on “Fox & Friends” on Monday, McEnany was asked about Pelosi’s criticism of President Donald Trump over his dealings with Russia. The press secretary defended the president claiming he has been “very tough on Russia.”
“Nancy Pelosi is very off-base. This president has been very tough on Russia, sanctioning innumerable Russian targets, closing Russian consulates, so she’s just off-base on her facts there,” McEnany said.
However, she reiterated that the intelligence, in question, is something the president was “never briefed” on.
She went on to dismiss Pelosi’s claims while questioning the validity of the report published by the New York Times.
“What she’s doing, she’s taking a report based on anonymous sourcing that was just dead wrong. The New York Times was wrong, believe it or not. And she’s politicizing it,” McEnany said. “It is truly despicable.”
Describing the matter as “egregious,” McEnany dismissed Pelosi’s concerns as she criticized her decision to share the intelligence.
“To go and to share classified information or unverified intelligence or any of the thousands of reports that come in on any given day have to be assessed for their credibility,” she said.
See McEnany’s remarks below:
McEnany’s remarks follow Pelosi’s scorching statements about the Russian report, Trump’s denial about receiving an intelligence report on the matter, and his presumed hesitation to “confront the Russians on this score.”
Over the weekend, reports surfaced about Russian efforts to offer bounties to Taliban-linked militants to kill U.S. troops in Afghanistan, as previously reported on IJR.
Although the intelligence report was reportedly compiled from military interrogations, the White House and Director of National Intelligence denied being briefed.
“This is as bad as it gets, and yet the president will not confront the Russians on this score, denies being briefed,” Pelosi said.
The top Democrat also alluded to the idea of Russia probably having leverage over the president which may be preventing him from necessary actions.
“I don’t know what the Russians have on the president, politically, personally, financially, or whatever it is,” Pelosi said. “But he wants to ignore, he wants to bring them back to the G-8 despite the annexation of Crimea and invasion of Ukraine.”
She continued, “He’s kissing up to Putin in every way. So totally irresponsible. Something is wrong with this picture.”