US: Trump on Russian bounties: 'I think it's a hoax'

In an interview with Fox Business Network, President Donald Trump, called intelligence assessments on Russian bounties to kill U.S. troops in Afghanistan a “hoax."

The president insisted anew he hadn't been briefed on them because the intelligence didn't rise to his level.

However, National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien said both the CIA and Pentagon did pursue the leads and briefed international allies.

Trump is coming under increasing pressure from lawmakers of both parties  to provide more answers about the intelligence and the U.S. response or lack of one.

Democrats who were briefed at the White House on Tuesday suggested he was bowing to Russian President Vladimir Putin at the risk of U.S. soldiers’ lives.

The president hit back.

"I think it's a hoax by the newspapers, and the Democrats," he said.

After long resisting wearing a mask in public, he also said Wednesday he thinks it makes him look like the Lone Ranger - and he likes it.

“I’m all for masks. I think masks are good,” Trump told Fox Business in an interview. "People have seen me wearing one.”

Trump’s comments came a day after Republican lawmakers suggested that the president wear a mask in public to set a good example for Americans.

“If I were in a tight situation with people, I would absolutely," Trump said in the interview.