I worked at the State Department -- there's no way Trump didn't know about the Russian bounties

[Nevilledog]

https://www.rawstory.com/2020/07/i-worked-at-the-state-department-theres-no-way-trump-didnt-know-about-the-russian-bounties/


One of the perennial lessons of the Trump presidency is that you can never put anything past him. There is no bottom—he will go as low as he can. That became painfully apparent once again last week, when we learned that Trump has sat on his hands for months and did nothing in response to reports that Russia paid bounties for the targeted killing of American soldiers in Afghanistan.

The New York Times reported that Russia’s military intelligence arm has offered a bounty to Taliban fighters for every confirmed kill of U.S. and coalition fighters serving in Afghanistan. The CIA reportedly confirmed the veracity of the information after interrogating prisoners and recovering a large stash of U.S. dollars at a captured Taliban base. Former national security adviser John Bolton reportedly briefed Trump on the information in March 2019, and U.S. intelligence officials told the Times that Trump was presented with a list of options in March 2020, but no action has yet been taken.

This came with devastating consequences. The Washington Post reported that the Russian bounties “are believed to have resulted in the deaths of several U.S. service members,” although General Frank McKenzie, head of U.S. Central Command, told reporters Tuesday that he did not find a “causative link” tying alleged Russian bounties to American fatalities. Unsurprisingly, Trump denies having been briefed and dismissed the news stories as “just another HOAX!”

Of course, there are still a lot of questions to be answered: Why wasn’t Congress informed of these developments? What action, if any, will the administration take now? But as someone who spent many years working in the State Department, putting together and being present for the kind of briefings the New York Times reported on, I want lawmakers, journalists and the public to fully understand: There is no way President Trump could not have known about these explosive reports. He knew—and he chose to do nothing.

[soothsayer]

1. And he wouldn't have missed it because it had his boss Putin's name in it

[empedocles]

3. No way a bunch of hi-ranking WH ferrets would have missed the bounty story

[Champp]

2. This is the kind of shit you get when Republicans put a freaking draft dodging golf idiot

in command of our troops.

Sad. Super sad.

[underpants]

4. They don't have Deputies and Principles meetings?

Holy smokes. I thought they’d at least have the meeting keep the process alive for when an adult was back in charge.

🤯

[lagomorph777]

5. Pay For Slay needs to be a major campaign issue.

Putin is paying the Taliban to kill our troops, and he's paying Trump to ignore it - and to kill us with COVID.