White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany claimed Tuesday, without evidence, that "rogue intelligence officers" are behind reports that Donald Trump knew about Russia offering bounties to kill U.S. troops in Afghanistan.

"These are rogue intelligence officers who are imperiling our troops' lives," McEnany said at her press briefing.

Pressed by a reporter to clarify if she was truly alleging that members of the intelligence community "are going after Trump," McEnany said, "It very possibly could be."

Trump has frequently promoted a conspiracy theory alleging that a widespread "deep state" is seeking to undermine his presidency.

From a June 30 White House press briefing:

REPORTER: Kayleigh, you said it was targeted leaking in the New York Times. Who's doing the targeting, and why are they doing it?
KAYLEIGH McENANY: It's a great question. But these are rogue intelligence officers who are imperiling our troops' lives. 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 and you have both the NSC, ODNI, and CIA all noting what damage this leaks does.
Not just to the safety of our troops, which is paramount, but to the ability of the United States to aggregate information from our allies and have assets and get this valuable information. So who's doing it?
REPORTER: Members of the IC [intelligence community] are going after Trump? Is that what you're saying?
McENANY: It very possibly could be. And if that's the case, it is absolutely despicable.

McEnany deep state 06-30-2020 from Shareblue Media on Vimeo

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.