DATA INTERCEPTED BY US PROVE RUSSIA FUND TRANSFER TO TALIBAN

US officials reportedly intercepted electronic data exhibiting massive financial transfers from Russia's military intelligence agency (the GRU) to a Taliban-linked account but did not tell House Republicans about it during a briefing, John Haltiwanger reported for Business Insider on July 1, 2020.

The financial transfer data bolstered intelligence gathered from interrogations pointing to a Russian plot to pay Taliban-linked militants to kill US soldiers in Afghanistan.

House GOP lawmakers briefed on this intelligence at the White House on Monday were not told about the intercepted data on the financial transfers, according to the New York Times. The Trump administration has downplayed reports on the suspected Russian plot, while claiming President Donald Trump was never briefed on the matter. Multiple reports suggest the intelligence was included more than once in Trump's written daily briefing, including in late February and possibly as early as last year.

The Trump administration on Monday briefed several GOP lawmakers on intelligence suggesting Russia paid Taliban-linked militants to target US troops in Afghanistan, but did not tell the House Republicans that US officials had intercepted electronic data showing large financial transfers from a bank account controlled by Russia's military intelligence agency (the GRU) to a Taliban-linked account, the Times reported. Congressional lawmakers briefed on the intelligence have slammed Trump for suggesting the suspected Russian plot was a hoax. "I just reviewed the intel. It's not a hoax, Mr. President. And if you continue ignoring the facts, more soldiers and Marines are going to die," Sen. Chris Murphy, a top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, tweeted on Monday. Murphy was heavily critical of the GOP-only briefing at the White House on Monday. "Every Republican who rushed to the White House to get this political briefing weakened the nation's security today," Murphy said in a tweet. "Once national security intelligence becomes just a political tool to be used at the whim of the White House, there is no way to effectively protect America."