CNBC: Biden slams Trump over report Russia offered bounties for Afghan militants to kill U.S. soldiers
* “His entire presidency has been a gift to Putin, but this is beyond the pale,” the former vice president and presumptive Democratic presidential nominee said.
* The New York Times reported Friday that the U.S. determined months ago a Russian military intelligence unit offered Taliban-linked militants bounties to kill U.S. and coalition soldiers in Afghanistan.
* Officials developed options from a diplomatic complaint to sanctions, but the White House has not yet authorized a response, the officials told the Times.
Joe Biden has accused Donald Trump of betraying his duty as president, after a report claimed the White House knew for months Russian intelligence offered Afghan militants bounties to kill U.S. soldiers but did not punish Moscow.
“His entire presidency has been a gift to Putin, but this is beyond the pale,” Biden said during a virtual town hall Saturday. “It’s 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. It’s a betrayal of every single American family with a loved one serving in Afghanistan or anywhere overseas.”
The New York Times reported Friday that the U.S. determined months ago a Russian military intelligence unit offered Taliban-linked militants bounties to kill U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan.
Read more ....
WNU Editor: The White House is denying these reports .... White House Denies Trump Briefed on Russia's 'Bounty' Plan (Bloomberg). More here .... Trump wasn't briefed on report Russia paid Taliban to kill coalition forces in Afghanistan, White House says (USA Today).
Update: The Taliban are also denying these reports .... Taliban deny claims Russia paid militants to attack US troops (Arab News).
Update #2: Russia is also denying reports that it paid militants to kill US troops .... Afghanistan war: Russia denies paying militants to kill US troops (BBC). More here .... ‘Unsophisticated’ disinformation: Moscow rebuffs NYT story alleging Russia offered Taliban money to kill US troops in Afghanistan (RT).
Update #3: What my take? The New York Times report on Russia paying bounties makes no sense. To begin. You do not need to pay the Taliban to motivate them to kill US soldiers. They are doing it for free. And as for the Taliban and Russia working together?!?!?! The Taliban and Russia have a long and bloody history. I have trouble seeing both groups making a decision to now work together. From my vantage point the NYT is making some serious accusations. But the New York Times provides no evidence to their claims. Just an anonymous source? They have to do better than that. And as for former vice-President Biden's remarks in the above video. You tell me.
Joe Biden Responds To Report Of Russian Bounties On U.S. Troops
Biden slams Trump over reported bounties placed on US troops -- AP
Biden criticizes Trump for inaction over reported Russian bounties -- Reuters
Biden accuses Trump of ‘betrayal’ for ignoring intel that Russia put bounty on heads of American soldiers -- New York Daily News
Biden: Trump's entire presidency has been a gift to Putin -- CNN
20 comments:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4728108/Taliban-fighters-say-Russia-supplying-weapons.html
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-afghanistan-russia-idUSKBN13W2XJ
Ain't the first time such accusations have been made.
Joe did a bang-up job of reading the script. Not that it was any secret the Dems want to immediately start a war with Russia.
nyt is a dangerous propaganda outlet.
Biden: Trump's entire presidency has been a gift to Putin.
And the Obama/Biden presidency was an 8-year gift of riches and pardons to Iran. Which actually killed over 600 US troops.
Ironic, because the NYT employed reporter who got a Pulitzer prize for carrying water for the Soviet Union by denying mass starvation of millions in Ukraine and Southern Russia
"Taliban and Russia working together"
Malcolm X use to gladly sit down with NAZIs.
If it comes from a left source more often then not it is a lie.
Chinese mis information campaign!!
This accusation never made any sense. As I've said before, evidence please. As the claim is extraordinary for obvious reasons, the evidence will need to be extraordinary. It really does seem as though certain US leaders really do want to go out of their way to start a war with Russia.
Trump’s claim he was ignorant of Russian bounty on US soldiers ripped apart by ex-CIA official
Rep. Liz Cheney demands answers over reports of Russian bounties
The Pentagon leaks an explosive story of Trump’s dereliction of duty — widening the rift between the military and the White House
Easy Grader is at it again.
The NYT article used the word offered. It did not say anything had been paid. Also it is the racist NYT with declining revenues. It is bad enough they would lie to stay afloat.
Russian Bounty Report Seems Like the Kind of Thing Trump Should’ve Known, GOP Says
Kayleigh McEnany’s excuses for Trump’s ignorance about Russian bounties dismantled by reporter who broke story Three Things Bounties, Bounties, Bounce
Trump’s claim he was ignorant of Russian bounty on US soldiers ripped apart by ex-CIA official
Rep. Liz Cheney demands answers over reports of Russian bounties
The Pentagon leaks an explosive story of Trump’s dereliction of duty — widening the rift between the military and the White House
Video retweeted by Trump shows supporter yelling "white power" Video retweeted by Trump shows supporter yelling "white power"
And he’s calling extreeeeeeme bullshit on the Trump administration’s new claim that Donald Trump and Mike Pence were never briefed about the bounties Russia reportedly placed on our soldiers in Afghanistan:
“He would have been briefed instantaneously. It would have been in the materials sent in to him and it would have been discussed with him.” —@David_Gergen calls into question WH claim that Trump/Pence weren’t briefed on Russia offering bounty to the Taliban to kill US troops. pic.twitter.com/mxY5ccQ5GG
— Ana Cabrera (@AnaCabrera) June 27, 2020
CNN’s ANA CABRERA: “The White House is now denying the president was briefed on this, but if the New York Times‘ reporting is accurate, this would mean the president was briefed on this in late March. In early May he announced the U.S. had a great friendship with Russia. And later that same month, he reiterated his desire to invite Russia into the G-7. David, you have worked in four White Houses. Why wouldn’t a president have been briefed on intelligence like this?”
GERGEN: “He would have been — in every single White House that I’ve ever worked in, and every single White House I know anything about. This is very, very important information. It does affect the relationship with Russia. He would have been briefed instantaneously. It would have been in the materials sent in to him, and it would have been discussed with him. And I think Vice President Biden makes a very good point, what is raising so many objections on Capitol Hill is that this was in the same timeframe the president has extended an olive branch to Putin, inviting him to this G-7 meeting over the objections of Chancellor Merkel and others who do not want that to happen. The president stood up for him. So all of that suggests that this is a much more complicated story. What we’re possibly facing is that … the president was briefed but that he had reasons relating to his reelection and his relationship with Russia that he’s being very dovish about this.”
Wait, would the actual president of the United States stand idly by while our troops get slaughtered just so he can continue to get Vladimir Putin’s help in his reelection campaign? How could our president sacrifice the lives of our own citizens just to boost his electability?
WASHINGTON — United States intelligence officers and Special Operations forces in Afghanistan alerted their superiors as early as January to a suspected Russian plot to pay bounties to the Taliban to kill American troops in Afghanistan, according to officials briefed on the matter.
The crucial information that led the spies and commandos to focus on the bounties included the recovery of a large amount of American cash from a raid on a Taliban outpost that prompted suspicions. Interrogations of captured militants and criminals played a central role in making the intelligence community confident in its assessment that the Russians had offered and paid bounties in 2019, another official has said.
Armed with this information, military and intelligence officials have been reviewing American and other coalition combat casualties since early last year to determine whether any were victims of the plot. Four Americans were killed in combat in early 2020, but the Taliban have not attacked American positions since a February agreement to end the long-running war in Afghanistan.
The emerging details added to the picture of the classified intelligence assessment, which The New York Times reported on Friday was briefed to President Trump and discussed by the White House’s National Security Council at an interagency meeting in late March. The Trump administration had yet to act against the Russians, the officials said.
Mr. Trump defended himself on Sunday by denying that he had been briefed on the intelligence, expanding on a similar White House rebuttal a day earlier, as leading congressional Democrats and even some Republicans demanded a response to Russia that the administration had yet to authorize.
The president “needs to immediately expose and handle this, and stop Russia’s shadow war,” Representative Adam Kinzinger, Republican of Illinois on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, wrote on Twitter.
Mr. Easy Grader has his dander up. This time it will work, so he is full of froth and fury.
“I’d like to go on television and tell everybody what I think…. Look at it this way. I[t] could be worse. You could be a career bureaucrat whose greatest thrill in life is leaking half-truths, self-justifications and outright lies to the likes of Eli Lake, Kim Dozier, and whoever picks up the phone at Fox News.”
- Ben Rhodes
Democrat viewer: Gulp, gulp, gulp, gulp, ...."
"If he wasn’t briefed on this, every national security official in the White House should be fired immediately.
Trump no doubt demanded confirmation of the intel and that had to take time. The NSC gave him options — none of which were any good because there are none — short of war or threatening war."
It’s so easy to kibbitz from the sidelines.
"Sanction!" - Kibitzer
"We’ve already hit Russia with serious sanctions — the country, individuals, and companies. What can we do to “confront” Putin that would make Russia feel any more pain than they already are? According to the Congressional Research Service, there aren’t any realistic options — none that would hurt Putin or Russia."
And the Kibitzer face plants.
Easrth to parrot
"It’s inaccurate. Stop politicizing intelligence."
https://twitter.com/RichardGrenell/status/1277084824616886272
Remember: Sciutto reported that Kim Jong-un was near death and that a lot of the Steele dossier had been corroborated.
https://twitter.com/ChuckRossDC/status/1277281328338210816
I never heard this. And it’s disgusting how you continue to politicize intelligence. You clearly don’t understand how raw intel gets verified. Leaks of partial information to reporters from anonymous sources is dangerous because people like you manipulate it for political gain.
- Grennel to Ted Lieu
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