#Mark Esper tells Congress he wasn’t briefed on Russian ‘bounties’

Defense Secretary Mark Esper says he was not briefed on alleged Russian “bounties” to kill US troops in Afghanistan — and that he would have been if there was credible intelligence.

Esper’s under-oath testimony Thursday to the House Armed Services Committee follows a bombshell report last month that claimed President Trump was briefed on Russian bounties and didn’t act.

Trump denies he was briefed and denounced the report as “another made up by Fake News tale that is told only to damage me.”

Esper’s testimony implicitly supports Trump’s version of events.

“Congressman, to the best of my recollection I have not received a briefing that included the word bounty,” Esper testified.

“If it was a credible report — that’s important, a credible corroborated report that used those words, certainly, it would have been brought to my attention by the chain of command,” Esper added.

Republican Rep. Mike Turner of Ohio elicited the response, telling Esper that committee members already knew “the answer” to whether Esper was briefed on the alleged Russian bounties before the public reporting.

“Things that haven’t happened are not classified,” Turner said, asking Esper point-blank whether he was briefed about Russian bounties in Afghanistan.

Rep. Bill Keating (D-Mass.), however, had Esper concede that he did learn about alleged Russian “payments,” just not “bounties.”

“You can acknowledge, since you acknowledged there was no bounties, that indeed there were reports that mentioned payments? Is that correct?” Keating pressed. “Congressman, that’s correct,” Esper replied.

Esper said that in February he read about Russian payments “when it came out in an intelligence piece of paper,” but that two US generals in Afghanistan pursued the tip and “neither thought the reports were credible.”

“The illegal leaks are terrible, they’re happening across the government, particularly in the Defense Department,” Esper said. “It jeopardizes our troops, and it is just damaging to our government and our relationships with our allies and partners.”

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said last week that the intelligence on “bounties” was unconfirmed, and may never be confirmed due to the reporting.

“We will not be able to get — very likely not be able to get a consensus on this intelligence because of what was leaked to the New York Times,” McEnany said.