WASHINGTON—The White House is rebuking a congressman from Ohio for allegedly politicizing the nation’s response to a Russian nuclear weapons program.
On June 20, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said that Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio), who is chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, had gone against the wishes of the intelligence community in publicizing the existence of a Russian program to develop a nuclear anti-satellite weapon.
“Publicizing this highly-sensitive intelligence was highly irresponsible, and it was something that the intelligence community themselves had serious concerns with,” Mr. Kirby told reporters.
Mr. Kirby’s comments followed a speech by Mr. Turner earlier in the day, in which the congressman claimed that Russian President Vladimir Putin was “reassembling the Soviet Union” and that the Biden administration was “incapable” of preventing it from deploying more nuclear weapons….