U.S. Warns Russia on Bounties While Trump Cries 'Fake News'

[soothsayer]

https://www.thedailybeast.com/us-warns-russia-on-bounties-while-trump-cries-fake-news

Snip

The U.S. State Department has issued warnings to Russia that there will be repercussions if Moscow pays bounties to the Taliban for successfully killing American soldiers, according to two senior American officials and another individual with knowledge of the matter.

The warnings were issued through the department’s diplomatic channels after public news reports in June that the U.S. had gathered intelligence about the Russian bounties, those officials said. One official described the communications as “serious.” Another said that Moscow responded by denying the reports it had set up or funded a bounty program to kill U.S. troops....

The warnings to the Russians highlight the seriousness with which officials in the Trump administration have responded to reports of the bounties. They also raise questions about the extent to which officials’ understanding of the validity of the bounty intelligence diverges from that of President Donald Trump.

It is unclear to what extent, if at all, the president has been briefed on these warnings. The White House and National Security Council did not immediately provide comment to The Daily Beast. The State Department did not respond on the record to a request for comment. Pompeo recently said during a Fox News interview that the U.S. would “respond to any threat, whether that’s Iranians using the Taliban or the Russians,” he said. “We’ll make sure they know.”