U.S. intelligence officials believe Russia paid bounties for Taliban-connected terrorists to target American troops...or do they? Depends whom you ask...and we’ll explain in a second.
What we “know?” That the “New York Times” is reporting that Russian President Vladimir Putin offered such rewards last year as peace talks were taking place to end the U.S. war in Afghanistan.
Here’s where it gets itchy. Intelligence sources say President Trump was briefed about the situation back in March, but hasn't taken action yet. First, Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany [[MACK-ih-nay-nee]] didn’t dispute the report itself, but said neither Trump nor Vice President Mike Pence were told. Then he backed that up on Twitter calling the report “fake news.”
But then? Trump tweeted overnight that officials didn't brief him on the alleged intelligence because "they did not find this info credible." Officials confirm that 22 Americans were killed in Afghanistan in 2019.
Not surprisingly, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden is slamming Trump over the reports. He calls it a “betrayal to the troops” and said, not only has Trump failed to sanction or impose any kind of consequences on Russia for this "egregious violation of international law," but has continued his "embarrassing campaign of deference and debasing himself before Vladimir Putin."
But something else Trump had to contend with this weekend? A really unfortunate “tweet and delete” – that saw the President retweet a video featuring his supporters cheering “White Power.” The tweet stayed up for about three hours before it was removed. "Thank you to the great people of The Villages," he captioned the retweet. "The Radical Left Do Nothing Democrats will Fall in the Fall. Corrupt Joe is shot. See you soon!!!"
Source: NY Times