Bribery is bad primarily because it asks for someone to abandon their duties for personal gain. As the head of the state, his is responsible for the state, and

Bribery is bad primarily because it asks for someone to abandon their duties for personal gain. As the head of the state, his is responsible for the state, and not more. Here, he asked US to pay the state instead of himself. Whether or not it would actually turn out to be a net benefit to the state is one matter, but given the information we have, he acted in accordance to his duty. You can't call that bribery. Maybe you think he has a moral obligation to not keep quiet, and he defied that obligation. But no, that's not how it works. A head of state that chooses this as a hill to die on, regardless of trade-offs, is one that fails his people.