President Donald Trump was not verbally briefed on reports Russia paid militants to kill US soldiers, said national security adviser Robert O’Brien, because of a lack of confidence in the intelligence. The CIA officer decided the intelligence was not verified.

Mr O’Brien did not say if the president was handed a written briefing. The intelligence reportedly arrived amid US attempts to negotiate a peace deal to end the Afghanistan war. At the time of the alleged plan to target US service personal in 2019, Mr Trump was also seeking to improve relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The New York Times, Washington Post and Wall Street Journal, quoting unnamed US officials, said a Russian military intelligence unit had offered Taliban-linked militants bounties to kill US troops. Russia has denied the reports, while the Taliban said it had not made any deal with agents from Moscow.

Speaking with Fox Business Network, Mr Trump said: “When you bring something into a president and I see many, many things – and I’m sure I don’t see many things that they don’t think rose to the occasion – this didn’t rise to the occasion. And from what I hear – and I hear it pretty good – the intelligence people, many of them didn’t believe it happened a all.”(BBC)…[+]