Latest
W/H line from Press Secretary McEnany
(Blame
the media not the President)
SecDef Mark Esper, Trump, JCS Gen. Mark Milley
(Two out of three look lost)
Really, Vlad: You Paid Bounty on Americans in Afghanistan
(Tell me it's not true – I always believe you)
Trump Loyalists Will Hate & Not Believe This Post
(Read the story below and then decide)
Updated (CNN – July 4, 2020) – more on the Russian bounty fiasco that I originally posted below following this update. This story is finally getting to
the truth about Trump's inaction on this very critical issue.
Introduction:
I said awhile back that appointing former Rep. John Ratcliffe (R-TX) as the new DNI was a horrible choice for obvious partisan support he has shown and will no doubt continue to show Trump.
I said awhile back that appointing former Rep. John Ratcliffe (R-TX) as the new DNI was a horrible choice for obvious partisan support he has shown and will no doubt continue to show Trump.
The following story from CNN clearly shows the raw, ugly,
nasty, and totally deceptive GOP politics to protect Trump and give him maximum
cover about this story. Proof this update is of original story from the
NY Times (linked below).
Details from this Update: Citing three officials, the paper
reported that the National Intelligence Council, led by the DNI John Ratcliffe himself wrote the two-and-a-half page memo,
which was dated on Wednesday (July 1) - just days after the NY Times broke
and first reported the intelligence
officials' knowledge of the bounties and the White House's subsequent inaction
and Trump’s still non-response to Putin, except as he always does: Blame the media
re: that story from Politico.
The officials told the NY Times that the timing and
highlights of the memo shows no new details, but it also implies that it is aimed to fortify the administration's efforts to defend staying silent to the
news.
Multiple former national security officials told the
paper that the memo's depiction suggests that it may have been swayed by
political intentions.
The memo
states that the CIA and the National Counterterrorism Center had evaluated “with medium confidence that a unit of the Russian military intelligence
agency GRU offered the bounties” two of the officials briefed on the memo's
contents told the paper.
My 2 cents on this newest update: Trump’s message to
Russia on this bounty on Americans story is dirt simple: HIS TOTAL SILENCE.
So if anyone wants a proper traitor definition look no
further than Donald J. Trump, CINC. He fits that label perfectly right now
based on this new evidence.
Every American should be totally outraged about this
and Trump’s silence for his BFF Vlad Putin.
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The latest W/H official position on the Russian bounty story re: Trump’s non-response “not about me” blame
the media report from Politico:
The White
House cranks up their SOP propaganda game and these days it is delivered publicly
by the newest Press Secretary “Bätshït Crazy”
Kayleigh McEnany and right on cue she blames the media for the Russian
bounty story – highlights from the story:
The White
House this past week (until now) has been facing a familiar series of questions
as it grappled with reports of a Russian bounty targeting Americans in
Afghanistan as they ask that famous Watergate question: “What did the president know and
when did he know it?” (A direct
simple and now historical question asked to Nixon’s White House attorney John
Dean by then Sen. Howard Baker (R-TN) in 1972).
McEnany called a press briefing on Tuesday (June 30) where
she chastised the media for reporting on the story, before taking just a few
questions and walking off. A cadre of national security officials — from the
CIA to the Pentagon to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence —
all issued statements putting the focus on leaks to the press.
McEnany highlighted the surge in criminal leak
referrals under President Donald Trump — averaging 104 per year, up from an
average of 39 per year under President Barack Obama.
The National
Security Adviser Robert O’Brien weighed in and told reporters: “Because somebody decided to leak this
intelligence while we were trying to get to the bottom of it, that may never be
possible now, and that’s a shame.”
The series
of statements didn’t address the veracity of the reports — which have now been
confirmed by numerous outlets (see below list) — what the administration was
planning as a potential response, and what, exactly, the president may have
known.
This is the SOP for the Trump
White House: Redirect attention
to the media when pressed about Trump’s knowledge of and response to various
threats. For example, when the administration was grilled earlier this year
about when Trump first learned about the coronavirus, the White House said it
was the press — not Trump — that had downplayed the outbreak’s severity.
The
tactic has had the effect of distracting from the intelligence itself. Yet it
has also inadvertently revealed how intelligence gets from the ground to the
president’s desk.
Mark Zaid, a national security
attorney who represented the whistleblower who initially revealed the details
of Trump’s controversial phone call with the Ukrainian president said: “It’s
a deflection — it’s like yelling squirrel — they’re not addressing what the
underlying substance is, they’re trying to point to the shiny object in the
corner. The White House has only made it worse by their deflection because it’s
turned the whole situation upside down so the underbelly is exposed.”
The catalyst for the most recent conversation about
American intelligence was a New York Times report late last month. It claimed the
White House had intelligence that the Russian government had paid bounties to
Taliban-linked fighters in Afghanistan for the heads of U.S. soldiers.
The news had
serious implications for Trump. Further reporting on the bounty program has
revealed that high level officials were aware of the intelligence and that it
was included in February in the PDB, a collection of important and classified
material for him daily.
Yet senior
officials have supported the president’s claim that he was not briefed on the
information, although lawmakers have confirmed the information was included in
the written daily briefing.
FYI: It is well-known that Trump does not like to read
reports – he prefers “oral reporting.” That is truly astonishing, isn’t it?
Trump also hates Teleprompters preferring “off-the-cuff speeches”
In this
case, national security leaders across the government in various statements
made leaks the focus is now driving this stories.
CIA Director Gina Haspel said: “Leaks
compromise and disrupt the critical interagency work to collect, assess, and
ascribe culpability.”
The DNI John Ratcliffe struck a
similar note saying:
“Leaking of any classified information
disrupts the vital interagency work to collect, assess, and mitigate threats
and places our forces at risk.”
The White
House more directly called out media outlets themselves when McEnany said in
that press briefing (June 30): “The front
page of The New York Times is not the venue for discussing classified
information. The White House podium is not the venue for discussing classified
information. We are here today, having this discussion, because of an
irresponsible, anonymous leak to The New York Times.”
Trump, as is often the case, was more
direct, accusing The New York Times of completely fabricating the story
tweeting (as usual):
“The Russia Bounty story is just another
made up by “Fake News” tale that is told only to damage me and the Republican
Party. The secret source probably does not even exist, just like the story
itself. If the discredited
Trump’s
“fake news” claims cut against the simultaneous claims officials were making
that those who leaked the information should be prosecuted.
One senior administration official
said: “It is deeply disturbing that enough people
feel justified revealing such information to major publications. The people
would have to be classified at high levels and the reporters would have to feel
the national security risk is justified.”
The leaks also seem to have come from several different
corners of the federal government — stories about the bounty program have been
written by teams of reporters who cover different subjects, suggesting the origin was not with one single leaker.
O’Brien speaking
to reporters further outlined how the concerning raw intelligence was shared
with allies, and said an interagency process was started to verify and
corroborate the information, adding: “This
should be a story about how things work, and how things work right in the
government. The reason it’s not … is because some leaker took it upon
themselves in an effort to attack the president or promote some policy agenda,
to leak allegations that now make it nearly impossible for us to find out what
happened.”
Some national
security experts said that the administration’s quibbling with who leaked what
to whom is the actual boon for foreign intelligence services.
National security attorney Zaid said: “All
the discussion that the United States is now having publicly is now being
devoured by foe and friend alike to not only assess our intelligence capacity
but also to develop geopolitical strategies for those countries.”
Political Science Professor Jason
Ross Arnold at VA Commonwealth University, specialist in government secrecy,
surveillance, and whistleblowing said: “It reveals serious
problems related to the intelligence reporting process at the White House. This
is not a frivolous leak. If everything is true, then it gives us important
insight about the president’s decision making and his perspective on American
national security.”
The White
House did not respond to a request for comment.
My 2 cents: As noted there are numerous sources other
than the original NY Times story.
For example: (1) Taliban detainee interrogation
reports from Afghanistan; (2) UK intelligence; (3) U.S. Special Forces (Special
Ops) on the ground in Afghanistan; and (4) numerous media outlets such as: CNN;
Politico; Reuters; Washington Post; The Hill; AlterNet; NY Magazine; The
Guardian, EU allied sources, spies, informants, and surprisingly, even from FOX
News.
This is a huge critically important story and it
speaks to the competence of Donald J. Trump as the bragging CINC who apparently
in this cases favors Putin and the bounties on our troops over our troops.
If
so, folks that is treason without any doubt 100% and tons of people in high
level positions know it, too and more so critical is that Trump still maintains
his buddy-buddy relationship with Putin.
Trump’s strategy: Dodge, duck, and deny anything bad
about Putin while professing he is strong on Russian nastiness.
That mentality is straight out of the Russian
“disinformation” playbook Chapter 1.
What can or will be done – time will tell and the
truth will prevail as it always does – stay tuned as I am even this trying time
– Trump cannot keep hiding the truth the way he does with story after story
after story changing the subject every day and counting on people to not pay
much attention (with too much news) or that they will keep up with his con game
strategy also practically also on a daily basis.
He is a huge media generator,
but also a huge news denier that goes against him and exposes his crap.
Thanks for stopping by.
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Original NY Times and updates below: The hits just keep on coming ... recent update here from Politico (1 hour ago) with this amazing headline - hope the GOPers follow up - we shall see:
Senate Republicans squeeze Trump over Russian bounties
These updates are now coming in hot and heavy and hard to keep up with. I have tried to keep up. All updates are below (not in precise order) but easy to follow (Note: Some may duplicates in context).This recent update is from Reuters with this headline:
Republicans and Democrats want to question Trump aides over Russia bounty reports
WASHINGTON (June 29 – Reuters) - Both Democrats and President Trump's fellow Republican lawmakers in Congress demanded more information from the White House after reports that Russian military intelligence offered
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said in a letter to DNI John Ratcliffe and CIA Director Gina Haspel: “Congress and the country need answers now. I therefore request an interagency brief for all House Members immediately. The questions that arise are: (1) Was the President briefed, (2) if not, why not, and (3) why was Congress not briefed?”
Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-TX), top Republican on the House Armed Services Committee, joined the committee chairman, Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA), asking DOD also for a briefing, with Smith writing: “The American people – and our service members – deserve to know the truth about what the White House knew about these Russian operations that may have directly resulted in the deaths of American service members.”
Thornberry went on to tell reporters that any delay “will not be acceptable.”
One congressional aide said also that a meeting on the issue along with some congressional Republicans would take place at the White House later Monday (June 29), however, aides to Pelosi and Sen. Schumer said there was no indication any Democrats would be invited to participate.
Schumer has called for an immediate briefing from Ratcliffe and Haspel for all 100 senators.
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Original Story and All Current Updates Follow below:
This was off the wires (30 minutes ago) from the Washington Post ...
What is so good about this update is they have a running tab month and year starting in April 2017 with battle field report on Russian involvement in Afghanistan.
This is that April 2017 entry: Army Gen. John Nicholson, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, appears to confirm reports that Russia is arming the Taliban.
Defense Secretary Jim Mattis adds: “Any weapons being funneled here from a foreign country would be a violation of international law unless they were coming to the government of Afghanistan.”
Check out the Post's whole time-line - very eye-opening to the say the least.
These Latest Updates Here: From The Hill and here from NY Magazine (The Intelligencer) below in part (key parts I believe), and here from AlterNet – newer and more explosive than before.
First note this Trump tweet:
Intel just reported to me that they did not find this info credible, and therefore did not report it to me or @VP. Possibly another fabricated Russia Hoax, maybe by the Fake News @nytimesbooks, wanting to make Republicans look bad!!!
RELATED FROM REPUBLICANS:
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman, said in a tweet: “It is imperative Congress get to the bottom” of the Russian offer “to pay the Taliban to kill American soldiers with the goal of pushing America out of the region.”
Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY), the third-highest-ranking member of the House GOP leadership tweeted saying: “That if the report of Russian bounties is true, the White House must explain why the president wasn’t briefed, who did know and when, and what has been done in response to protect our forces & hold Putin responsible.”
This Update key parts (my highlights):
The original NY Times scoop has been confirmed by other American media and European intelligence sources.
Other Trump administration officials have tried to draw a less obviously indefensible line. Over the weekend, the White House press secretary and DNI denied saying: “…the president nor the vice-president were briefed on Russia’s involvement.”
That would seem to push responsibility away from Trump and onto a nebulous bureaucratic failure.
Yet, the administration conspicuously failed to deny the Times report that the bounty intelligence was included in the President’s Daily Brief (PDB).
The gap between Trump “being briefed” on the Russian bounty, and information on the bounty being included in his brief, may sound merely semantic.
But, Trump is known not to read his PDB, instead relying on verbal summaries from intelligence officials.
For example: The Washington Post reported three years ago that the officials who deliver Trump’s intelligence summaries have learned to dance carefully around anything that casts a dark light on Putin saying: “Russia-related intelligence that might draw Trump’s ire is in some cases included only in the written assessment and not raised orally.”
The Post also noted that briefers have learned that Russian-related intelligence tends to send the briefing “off the rails.”
Therefore, the Russian bounty issue might well have been included in Trump’s official briefings, which everybody knows he doesn’t read. So, officials around him may well have decided not to mention the matter to him because experience has taught them not to broach the topic of Russian misconduct with him.
Trump advisers almost certainly don’t know why the topic of Russia is so triggering to him. If his sensitivity is so acute that they could not even bring up a scheme to finance attacks on American troops — a literal act of war — then that is tantamount to a worst case scenario.
Whatever the reason, Trump is functionally unable to handle American policy toward Russia.
My 2 cents at this point and I add to the last summation, re: “Trump is functionally unable to handle American policy toward Russia.” My logical question is simple: Why?
Not sure, but confident in thinking that Putin has a lot hanging over Trump’s head – not just that Moscow Trump Tower deal, either, but much more (money-related probably aided by Russian election-related dirty trick more likely).
As I said this story just keeps growing and the Trump hole just keeps getting deeper and deeper.
Original Story Follows With Previous Updates:
The Previous Major Update Here from The Guardian (June 28) with this headline:
Trump denies knowledge of Russian bounties on U.S. troops as criticism mounts
My critical question and suggestion: Is the original report (follows this update below) true or “fake” as Trump and a few others around him say?
We need a major investigation with intelligence officials under oath and evidence to support, or not, Trump’s denials about this very serious allegation and news story.
From this update:
Donald Trump claimed on Sunday (June 28) that no one had told him about a Russian plot to offer bounties to Taliban militants in exchange for fatal attacks on coalition troops in Afghanistan, though US security officials have been weighing a response to the plot since at least March.
Top administration officials, including members of Trump’s NSC have been discussing the Russian bounty offer for months, the New York Times first reported (much more follows this update).
But in a Sunday morning tweet, Trump claimed never to have heard about the Russian offer – and he questioned whether such an offer had been made saying in part: “Nobody briefed or told me, Vice President Mike Pence, or Chief of Staff Mark Meadows about the so-called attacks on our troops in Afghanistan by Russians. Everybody is denying it & there have not been many attacks on us…”
NOTE: Meadows took over as chief of staff at the end of March, after the National Security Council, had already convened an interagency meeting to discuss taking action on the intelligence reports, according to the Times.
I ask: How did Meadows know that before he took office?
Joe Biden in a virtual town hall on Saturday (June 27) said: “Not only has he failed to sanction or impose any kind of consequences on Russia for this egregious violation of international law, Donald Trump has continued his embarrassing campaign of deference and debasing himself before Vladimir Putin. His entire presidency has been a gift to Putin, but this is beyond the pale. It’s a betrayal of the most sacred duty we bear as a nation, to protect and equip our troops when we send them into harm’s way.”
A Russian military intelligence unit secretly offered cash to Taliban-linked militants for successful attacks on coalition forces in the fall of 2019, as the US and Taliban engaged in talks to end a decades-long war, according to reporting from the Washington Post and Fox reporting on U.S. intelligence assessments saying bounty money was believed to have been collected and that 20 Americans had been killed in combat in Afghanistan during that time in 2019.
Now, the White House press secretary, the DNI, and Trump himself all denied that news of a secret Russian paid assassinations plot against U.S. troops ever made it to Trump’s inner circle.
I note: All three of those people are notorious liars.
From DNI John Ratcliffe (R-TX) said in a statement Saturday (June 27): “I have confirmed that neither the president nor the vice president were ever briefed on any intelligence alleged by the New York Times in its reporting yesterday. The White House statement addressing this issue earlier today, which denied such a briefing occurred, was accurate.”
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany issued a statement Saturday (June 27) denying that Trump had been briefed but saying: “This does not speak to the merit of the alleged intelligence.”
House speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) on ABC’s “This Week” program on Sunday (June 28) said: “That this is totally outrageous” that Trump did not act on the intelligence reports to defend American lives, adding: “This is as bad as it gets, and yet the president will not confront the Russians on this score.”
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) tweeted: “Either the DNI is lying (which is a massive problem) or the DNI withheld earthshaking information from President Trump because he is so infantile and irrelevant that they’d rather he not know (which is also a massive problem).”
The former acting DNI, Richard Grenell, who served the Trump administration, suggested on Sunday (June 28) that the reports about the intelligence assessment were wrong, tweeting: “No one would be fine with this if it were true.”
Both the Russian foreign ministry and the Taliban issued statements denying the plot (as expected).
Original Story Follows from Here:
Original Story Follows from Here:
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. intelligence has concluded that the Russian military offered bounties to Taliban-linked militants in Afghanistan to kill American troops and other coalition forces.
Source: The New York Times report (June 26 – updated June 27) with more extensive coverage from officials briefed on the matter.
A Russian military intelligence unit linked to assassination attempts in Europe had offered rewards for successful attacks last year, according to the report, and it said Islamist militants, or armed criminal elements closely associated with them, are believed to have collected some bounty money.
Russia’s response (as expected): “This primitive informational dump clearly demonstrates low intellectual abilities of the propagandists at the American intelligence service.” (Russia’s Foreign Ministry statement cited by RIA News Agency (RIA Novosti).
The White House, the CIA, and the O/DNI all declined requests from Reuters for comment on this report.
President Trump has been briefed on the intelligence findings, and the White House has yet to authorize any steps against Russia in response to the bounties. Of the 20 Americans killed in combat in 2019, the Times said it was not clear which deaths were under suspicion.
After nearly 20 years of fighting the Taliban, the U.S. is looking for a way to extricate itself from Afghanistan and to achieve peace between the U.S.-backed government and the militant group, which controls swathes of the country.
On February 29, the U.S. and the Taliban struck a deal that called for a phased withdrawal of American troops.
U.S. troop strength in Afghanistan is nearly 8,600, well ahead of a schedule agreed with the Taliban in part because of concerns about the spread of the coronavirus (U.S. and NATO officials said in late May).
My 2 cents: Take this story anyway you choose. But, I’m sure after speaking on my local radio show and such that Trump loyalists cannot and will not believe any of this regardless of the sources, including our own intelligence agencies.
Stay tuned – this is not over yet. Imagine being the father or mother or wife and children of any of those 20 or so American troops killed last year in Afghanistan that this astonishing story mentioned.
Truly amazing that to date Trump has not responded publicly to this news (BBC), but he did call the G7 members (previously called the G8) and requested that Russia be allowed to re-join the group. Russia had been booted out for their 2014 invasion and annexation of Crimea.
This is a very big deal and to date as I said Trump’s only response was to appease Putin with membership back in the G7 … what the hell does that say about Trump more than anything we know about him already — there are no words to describe this — none whatsoever.
Thanks for stopping by.
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