Tag: Trump OK with Russia paying a bounty non American soldiers’ lives

Senate Republicans defend Trump’s response on Russian bounties

The Hill logoSenate Republicans are defending President Trump’s handling of intelligence claiming that Russia’s military intelligence units offered bounties to Taliban militants to kill U.S. troops, arguing the evidence of bounties has not received sufficient verification.

Trump has come under sharp criticism since Saturday for not issuing a forceful response to the allegations or vowing to get to the bottom of the claims. Instead, the president has waved off media reports as “fake news” and suggested the story is meant to make Republicans “look bad.”

Trump claimed in a tweet Sunday night, “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.” Continue reading.

Here’s what Trump was focused on the day his briefing reportedly included the Russian bounty plot

AlterNet logoMore information is coming out on the timeline of when President Donald Trump was reportedly briefed on a Russian plot to offer bounties for the killing of U.S. troops in Afghanistan.

“American officials provided a written briefing in late February to President Trump laying out their conclusion that a Russian military intelligence unit offered and paid bounties to Taliban-linked militants to kill U.S. and coalition troops in Afghanistan,” The New York Times reported Monday evening, citing “two officials familiar with the matter.”

“The new information emerged as the White House tried on Monday to play down the intelligence assessment that Russia sought to encourage and reward killings — including reiterating a claim that Mr. Trump was never briefed about the matter and portraying the conclusion as disputed and dubious,” the newspaper reported. “But that stance clashed with the disclosure by two officials that the intelligence was included months ago in Mr. Trump’s President’s Daily Brief document — a compilation of the government’s latest secrets and best insights about foreign policy and national security that is prepared for him to read. One of the officials said the item appeared in Mr. Trump’s brief in late February; the other cited Feb. 27, specifically.” Continue reading.