More Media Misdirection on Trump-Russia

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The most useless committee on Capitol Hill has answered a question no one was asking.

The headline is an attention-grabber, particularly the subhead. The New York Times breathlessly reports that a Republican-led Senate panel has issued a report that “undercuts claims by President Trump and his allies that Obama-era officials sought to undermine his candidacy by investigating Russia’s 2016 election meddling.”

Naturally, you’re thinking: “That’s it. All Trump’s diatribes about a ‘hoax’ have been the usual claptrap. Even the GOP admits that the Obama administration had good reasons to investigate whether Trump’s campaign was colluding with Russia.”



Except . . . that’s not what the Times story actually says. Carefully parsed, it’s not even what the headline says.

In truth, the story is a nothing-burger. We learn that one of the most useless committees on Capitol Hill, the Senate Intelligence Committee, has issued a 158-page report — festooned with the usual “there are things we can’t tell you” redactions — as a capper to its three-year investigation into a question no one is asking: Did the intelligence community competently conclude that Russia interfered in the 2016 campaign?

No one is asking that question because, for the vast majority of people closely following the collusion caper, that would be like asking whether the Chiefs won the Super Bowl.

We know Russia interfered in our campaign. Given Moscow’s long history of meddling in American politics, it would only have been a story if Russia did not meddle. The principal argument by President Trump and other intelligence agency critics has not been that Obama officials undermined Trump’s candidacy and presidency “by investigating Russia’s 2016 election meddling.” The argument is that they undermined Trump’s campaign and presidency by claiming that Trump and his campaign were complicit in Russia’s 2016 election meddling.

On that key question the Useless Committee is, as is its custom, mum.

To be sure, there are some pockets of doubters on the question of Russia’s culpability. There always will be because, as I described chapter-and-verse in Ball of Collusion, (a) the Obama administration habitually politicized intelligence to serve its narratives, and (b) the Obama-era Justice Department and FBI ignored rudimentary investigative practice by failing, in one of the most consequential investigations in American history, to take custody and conduct their own forensic examination of the body of the crime, the Democratic Party servers that had been hacked — relying, instead, on a DNC contractor with deep connections to the Clinton campaign and the Obama administration.

Add to this that Robert Mueller, that senescent Washington fixture, larded his staff with activist Democrats whose indictments were long on political narrative but short on actual crimes. Add, too, that Mueller’s case against Russian companies charged in the “troll farm” scheme collapsed after it became painfully clear that the social-media propaganda conspiracy was laughable, improvidently charged, and could not be tied to the Kremlin.

You get the point: Few people doubt that Russia is guilty, but if the Washington establishment cannot convince everyone of that fact, it’s got itself to blame.

But that’s all a sideshow.

The real question is whether the Obama administration and its officials held over by the new administration fabricated a tale about the Trump campaign’s complicity in Russia’s hacking. Did they peddle that tale to the FISA court while willfully concealing key exculpatory evidence? Did they continue the investigation under the guise of counterintelligence after Trump was elected, in the hope of finding a crime over which he could be impeached? Did they consciously mislead an American president about whether he was under investigation? Did they purposefully suggest in public testimony that the president was a criminal suspect, while privately assuring him that he was not one? And finally, when the Trump-Russia collusion nonsense was collapsing in a heap, did they open a criminal obstruction case — based on an untenable legal theory and facilitated by a leak of investigative information that was orchestrated by the just-fired FBI director — in order to justify continuing the probe under the auspices of a special counsel?

On these questions, the Useless Committee’s report is silent. Indeed, the report says right up front, in the findings section, that the intelligence agencies, over the FBI’s objection, did not include information from the infamous Steele dossier in its December 30, 2016, assessment on Russian interference — though, “as a compromise to the FBI insistence,” dossier allegations were included in an annex to the assessment. The Senate-report findings do not get into why the FBI was pushing so hard on the preposterous dossier. Nor do they mention that, by the time of the assessment, the bureau had already heavily relied on the dossier to obtain a surveillance warrant from the FISA court, and was even then preparing a submission to get yet another warrant — telling the federal judges the bureau believed that the Trump campaign was conspiring with the Kremlin.

We don’t hear much about what matters from the Useless Committee. Indeed, when last we heard mention of the committee, it was because Senator Richard Burr (R., N.C.), its chairman and the ultimate insider, made news for having feverishly dumped $1.7 million in his personal stock holdings on the eve of the coronavirus market collapse.

On the matter of Trump-Russia collusion allegations, the intelligence issue that roiled the nation for three years, the Intelligence Committee has had little to say. For a while, there was some dark collusion innuendo from Burr’s friend, Senator Mark Warner (D., Va.), the ranking member on the preeningly bipartisan committee. But we haven’t heard much since Warner was caught using the Washington lobbyist of a Putin-tied oligarch to try to score a tête-à-tête with the dossier fabulist, Christopher Steele. As Warner observed at the time, in a text to the lobbyist, we’d “rather not have a paper trail” on this one.

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I guess they followed the Schiff model of “investigation”; arrive at your predetermined conclusion (that fulfills a political objective), only investigate in directions that supports the predetermined conclusion and omit and suppress any information inadvertently exposes truths.

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Why it’s important to read your daily intelligence briefs…

June 28, 2020 – Spies and Commandos Warned Months Ago of Russian Bounties on U.S. Troops

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 details added to the picture of the classified intelligence assessment, which The New York Times reported Friday has been under discussion inside the Trump administration since at least March, and emerged as the White House confronted a growing chorus of criticism on Sunday over its apparent failure to authorize a response to Russia.

Mr. Trump defended himself by denying the Times report that he had been briefed on the intelligence, expanding on a similar White House rebuttal a day earlier. But leading congressional Democrats and some Republicans demanded a response to Russia that, according to officials, the administration has yet to authorize.

The president “needs to immediately expose and handle this, and stop Russia’s shadow war,” Representative Adam Kinzinger, Republican of Illinois and a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, wrote on Twitter.

Appearing on the ABC program “This Week,” Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she had not been briefed on the intelligence assessment and had asked for an immediate report to Congress. She accused Mr. Trump of wanting “to ignore” any charges against Russia.

“Russia has never gotten over the humiliation they suffered in Afghanistan, and now they are taking it out on us, our troops,” she said of the Soviet Union’s bloody war there in the 1980s. “This is totally outrageous. You would think that the minute the president heard of it, he would want to know more instead of denying that he knew anything.”

Spokespeople for the C.I.A., the director of national intelligence and the Pentagon declined to comment on the new findings. A National Security Council spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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@Greg: Ok the democrats want to bomb Russia, well no they want Trump to bomb Russia then exclaim surprise after demanding a response. Pallets of American cash, geeze who sent those into the middle east….that would not be Trump. We are not going to win in Afgahanistan trying to negotiate with 100 tribes is like herding 10,000 feral cats, Trump knows this, Putin knows this. So us leaving the stuck 6th century country would not bring shame to either country. Invading it was a neo-con brainfart that cost billions and precious American blood, but neo-cons and democrats DGAF.
He could be tough like Obama and tell Putin to knock it off. Draw a flexible line in the sand.

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@Greg: The reports haven’t been verified and the IC hasn’t briefed Trump.

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June 28, 2020 – Russian bounties to Taliban-linked militants resulted in deaths of U.S. troops, according to intelligence assessments

Russian bounties offered to Taliban-linked militants to kill coalition forces in Afghanistan are believed to have resulted in the deaths of several U.S. service members, according to intelligence gleaned from U.S. military interrogations of captured militants in recent months.

Several people familiar with the matter said it was unclear exactly how many Americans or coalition troops from other countries may have been killed or targeted under the program. U.S. forces in Afghanistan suffered a total of 10 deaths from hostile gunfire or improvised bombs in 2018, and 16 in 2019. Two have been killed this year. In each of those years, several service members were also killed by what are known as “green on blue” hostile incidents by members of Afghan security forces, which are sometimes believed to have been infiltrated by the Taliban.

The intelligence was passed up from the U.S. Special Operations forces based in Afghanistan and led to a restricted high-level White House meeting in late March, the people said.

The meeting led to broader discussions about possible responses to the Russian action, ranging from diplomatic expressions of disapproval and warnings, to sanctions, according to two of the people. These people and others who discussed the matter spoke on the condition of anonymity because of its sensitivity.

The disturbing intelligence — which the CIA was tasked with reviewing, and later confirmed — generated disagreement about the appropriate path forward, a senior U.S. official said. The administration’s special envoy for Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, preferred confronting the Russians directly about the matter, while some National Security Council officials in charge of Russia were more dismissive of taking immediate action, the official said.

It remained unclear where those discussions have led to date. Verifying such intelligence is a process that can take weeks, typically involving the CIA and the National Security Agency, which captures foreign cellphone and radio communications. Final drafting of any policy options in response would be the responsibility of national security adviser Robert C. O’Brien.

The CIA assessment took some time, and coincided with the scaling back and slowing down of a number of government functions as the coronavirus pandemic began to take hold, two people said.

Asked to comment, John Ullyot, an NSC spokesman, said that “the veracity of the underlying allegations continue to be evaluated.” The CIA and the Defense and State departments declined to comment.

Russia and the Taliban have denied the existence of the program.

Among the coalition of NATO forces in Afghanistan, the British were briefed late last week on the intelligence assessment, although other alliance governments were not formally informed. The New York Times first reported the existence of the bounty program on Friday evening.

But as more details have unfolded, the primary controversy in Washington over the weekend revolved around denials by President Trump and his aides that the president was ever briefed on the intelligence.

Trump on Sunday confirmed statements by Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe and the White House press secretary that he received no briefing on the subject, and he referred in tweets to “so-called reports” by “Fake News.”

“Nobody briefed or told me, [Vice President] Pence or Chief of Staff [Mark Meadows] about the so-called attacks on our troops in Afghanistan by Russians, as reported through an ‘anonymous source’ by the Fake News . . . Everybody is denying it & there have not been many attacks on us,” Trump said on Twitter, insisting that “nobody’s been tougher on Russia than the Trump administration.”
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The board imbecile at it again. Complete non story, fake news…

NYT Finds Themselves in a Blunder Over Their Botched Russia-Taliban Story

Members of the American intelligence community have concluded that members of the Russian intelligence unit offered bounties to Taliban-linked militants if they successfully killed members of the American military, the New York Times reported. The problem, however, is that almost everyone involved in this story says it isn’t true. The White House, Russia and even the Taliban have said the Times’ story is false.

According to the anonymous source that spoke to the Times, the Russians intending “to destabilize the West or take revenge on turncoats, had covertly offered rewards for successful attacks last year.”

The source claimed that President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence were briefed on the situation and the National Security Council discussed it back in March.

Dmitry Peskov, the Press Secretary for Russian President Vladimir Putin, said the country had no diplomatic complaints on record.

“If someone makes them, we’ll respond,” Peskov told the Times.

In the Times’ piece, the Taliban’s spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, said the terrorist organization had no “such relations with any intelligence agency.” He labeled the accusation as an attempt to “defame” the group.

“These kinds of deals with the Russian intelligence agency are baseless — our target killings and assassinations were ongoing in years before, and we did it on our own resources,” Mujahid explained. “That changed after our deal with the Americans, and their lives are secure and we don’t attack them.”

The most telling part of the article included absolutely zero details:

The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the delicate intelligence and internal deliberations. They said the intelligence had been treated as a closely held secret, but the administration expanded briefings about it this week — including sharing information about it with the British government, whose forces are among those said to have been targeted.

The intelligence assessment is said to be based at least in part on interrogations of captured Afghan militants and criminals. The officials did not describe the mechanics of the Russian operation, such as how targets were picked or how money changed hands. It is also not clear whether Russian operatives had deployed inside Afghanistan or met with their Taliban counterparts elsewhere.

So this information is based on an anonymous source yet there are no details about how the operation took place, what American troops were targeted, how meetings were conducted or even how the Taliban received their so-called payments. Why are there no details?

According to the president, he, the vice president and the chief of staff were never briefed about this operation. Trump labeled the story as “fake news”

Nobody briefed or told me, @VP Pence, or Chief of Staff @MarkMeadows about the so-called attacks on our troops in Afghanistan by Russians, as reported through an “anonymous source” by the Fake News @nytimes. Everybody is denying it & there have not been many attacks on us…..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 28, 2020

…Nobody’s been tougher on Russia than the Trump Administration. With Corrupt Joe Biden & Obama, Russia had a field day, taking over important parts of Ukraine – Where’s Hunter? Probably just another phony Times hit job, just like their failed Russia Hoax. Who is their “source”?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 28, 2020

Director of National Intelligence, John Ratcliffe, said he confirmed that Trump and Pence weren’t briefed on the allegations.

Statement by DNI Ratcliffe: “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.” (1/2)
— Office of the DNI (@ODNIgov) June 28, 2020

“The White House statement addressing this issue earlier today, which denied such a briefing occurred, was accurate. The New York Times reporting, and all other subsequent news reports about such an alleged briefing are inaccurate.” (2/2)
— Office of the DNI (@ODNIgov) June 28, 2020
Former Acting DNI Director Ric Grenell slammed the attempted spin.

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. https://t.co/403X9AVGAC
— Richard Grenell (@RichardGrenell) June 27, 2020

The Russian Embassy in the United States also denied the story.

In the absence of reasons to #BlameRussians, @nytimes is there to invent new fake stories.@mschwirtz @EricSchmittNYT @charlie_savage obviously lack information on cooperation between Russia and #US on the Afghan peace process, on Syrian, North Korean, Venezuelan, Iranian agendas pic.twitter.com/tqO7hVRVGv
— Russia in USA ???? (@RusEmbUSA) June 27, 2020

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@Greg: I guess it’s convenient to forget the history of Russia and the Taliban to believe the lies you want to believe.

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@July 4th American: The unverifiable garbage would never make it into a briefing. The Taliban offended that someone would think they would need a bribe to kill Americans and Britts.

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@kitt:

Absolutely correct. greg defines imbecility. So far two Americans have been killed in Afghanistan this year while just last weekend 7 were shot and killed in Chicago alone. But, black lives in Chicago do not matter nor do they in the womb.

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June 29, 2020 – Congress Unites To Demand Answers From Trump On Russian Bounties In Afghanistan

Members of Congress in both parties demanded answers on Monday about reported bounties paid by Russian operatives to Afghan insurgents for targeting American troops.

The stories appeared to have taken even the most senior lawmakers off guard, and they said they wanted briefings soon from the Defense Department and the intelligence community.

“I think it is absolutely essential that we get the information and be able to judge its credibility,” said Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, the ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee.

First, what actually has taken place — and have any American troops been killed as a result of Russian-sponsored targeted action? And second: Who knew what about the reporting on these allegations that has flowed up from the operational level in Afghanistan?

The White House tried to defend itself over the weekend on both counts, arguing that senior intelligence officials aren’t convinced about the reliability of the reports and that they never reached President Trump or Vice President Pence personally.
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@July 4th American, #9:

I’m smart enough to have realized Donald Trump has no business holding public office. So what’s wrong with this picture?

Donald Trump@realDonaldTrump

95% Approval Rating of President Trump in the Republican Party. I would imagine the 5% are the RINOS’ and stupid people who don’t want to see great Judges & Supreme Court Justice’s, a new & powerful Military, Choice for Vets, 2A Protection, big RegulationCuts, Life, & much more!

8:48 AM · Jun 29, 2020

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@Greg: There you go not even congress was advised of unverified rumors. What other proof do you need? They get misinformation on classified calls but not a whisper on this.
Nice that you are informing yourself about fake news we are proud of you.

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@kitt, #12:

What other proof do you need that serious dysfunction has set in?

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@Greg:

What other proof do you need that serious dysfunction has set in?

I would need proof that serious dysfunction has set in. That every bit of misinformation and rumor wasnt hitting both congressional committes and the Presidents desk is a good sign, a very very good sign.
I guess you want a war with Russia send in our men to get blown to bits over unverified information, thats not dysfunctional… much.
Imbicile!

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Who said anything about war with Russia? What I want is a return to competent elected leadership in Washington, and the return of competent appointees who are more focused on their agency missions than on pleasing a president.

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@Greg: They demand a response! We demand proof before we go off 1/2 cocked accusing a nuclear power of acts of war.
Imbicile, what we had in the last admin was sugar coated intelligence.
https://www.post-gazette.com/opinion/editorials/2015/11/24/Deadly-spin-Obama-must-end-phony-intelligence-reports/stories/201511240042
Those may have led him to arm the “ISIS freedom fighters”that were killing our guys.

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If you like what you’re seeing every time you turn on the news, I suppose another vote for Trump is the way to go. That said, I think most Americans would happily trade the current year for any of Obama’s final 7 years. With Obama, we started in a very bad place and ended well. Trump’s time in office has been the exact opposite. I’ll take Joe Biden, gaffes and all, and a turn toward the normalcy we used to know.

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@Greg: Was Congress briefed on these “allegations”?

Who said anything about war with Russia? What I want is a return to competent elected leadership in Washington, and the return of competent appointees who are more focused on their agency missions than on pleasing a president.

You mean like those who sold them our uranium? Like those who, when they thought their mic was turned off, promised to do whatever Putin wanted if he would help with the election? Like those who allowed a consulate to be sacked? Like those who just laid all our State Department classified information out for anyone that wanted it to get? Like those who created a gigantic mess in Syria, then just turned the entire region over to Putin? No, I think we’ve had enough of that dumbassery, and no doubt that is exactly what Biden would provide.

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You mean like those who sold them our uranium?

Believing such nonsense could serve as a litmus test for gullibility.

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@Greg: My vote wont be swayed by fake news.
You saying that democrats will never ever stand up to Antifa and trained marxists isnt helping your cause. I read my news, I dont watch opinion spin boobtube talking heads with nothing but hate for America to offer up.

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@Greg: Arranging uranium deals for oppressive dictators nothing new for the Clinton’s
https://www.judicialwatch.org/blog/2008/01/clintons-multi-million-dollar-communist-uranium-deal/

FBI informant testified to Russian payments in connection with Uranium One
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-02-08/fbi-informant-testifies-moscow-routed-millions-clinton-foundation-russian-uranium?fbclid=IwAR268mbMyCtkfOMP-j7YAwSpE6l4zb1oCsIt1xH0OHdZvgbewcgbJeXL4zI

FBI knew the Russians were bribing and worming their way into US uranium business but Obama/Hillary approved uranium deal anyway
http://thehill.com/policy/national-security/355749-fbi-uncovered-russian-bribery-plot-before-obama-administration

http://www.nationalreview.com/node/452776/print

The Russian nuclear investigation is all about timing

Uranium sold by Hillary and Obama removed from US, despite promises

Uranium One deal led to some exports to Europe, memos show

It’s a fact. Obama, Hillary and Holder approved it. Bill and Hillary got rich(er) off it. Now it’s gone.

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@kitt:

My vote wont be swayed by fake news.

Are you sure you know which news is fake? A week ago, claims were being made that reports of building COVID-19 surges in states which reopened earliest was fake news. It was claimed the reports were leftist disinformation, intended to create panic.

Now we’ve got dangerous surges in half-a-dozen southern red states—the very places that discounted the warnings.

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It’s a fact. Obama, Hillary and Holder approved it. Bill and Hillary got rich(er) off it. Now it’s gone.

It’s all complete bullshit. I’m not going to waste my time posting the facts which clearly demonstrate that for the third or fourth time. It’s totally pointless when someone is determined not to know the truth. Unfortunately that is a defining characteristic of Trump’s core supporters. Fortunately they’re not numerous enough to carry another election. The polls are not lying. This lunacy will soon be ending.

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@Greg: No. It isn’t. That’s all the facts of the matter.

Out of control masses of rioting looters and protesters contributed greatly to the spike, along with testing.

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June 29, 2020 – Trump was briefed on Russian bounties earlier than thought, reports say

President Donald Trump and the White House knew earlier than was previously reported about alleged Russian bounties offered to Afghan militants to kill American service members, according to new reports Monday night.

Trump received a written briefing in February about intelligence regarding the alleged bounties, The New York Times reported Monday night, citing two officials with knowledge of the matter.

The Associated Press, citing officials with direct knowledge of the matter, also reported that the White House was aware of the matter much earlier, in early 2019. Then-national security advisor John Bolton told colleagues that he briefed Trump on the matter in March 2019, the AP added.

Bolton has published a tell-all memoir about his time in the White House. The narrative is full of withering condemnations of the president and unflattering anecdotes about him. Trump has slammed the book as full of lies, while the administration unsuccessfully sought to block the book’s publication.

Trump and the White House have denied that the president had been briefed on the intelligence assessment regarding the Russian bounties. The White House had also said that the intelligence underpinning the claim was unverified.

National security advisor Robert O’Brien, in a statement Monday night, condemned the leaks and asserted that the president had not been briefed.

“Because the allegations in recent press articles have not been verified or substantiated by the Intelligence Community, President Trump had not been briefed on the items,” O’Brien said. “Nevertheless, the Administration, including the National Security Council staff, have been preparing should the situation warrant action.”

Chief Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman said in a statement to NBC News, “The Department of Defense continues to evaluate intelligence that Russian GRU operatives were engaged in malign activity against United States and coalition forces in Afghanistan.”

“To date, DOD has no corroborating evidence to validate the recent allegations found in open-source reports,” he said. “Regardless, we always take the safety and security of our forces in Afghanistan – and around the world – most seriously and therefore continuously adopt measures to prevent harm from potential threats.”

The Times said the investigation has homed in on a car bombing in April 2019 that killed three Marines. That attack occurred the month after Bolton reportedly briefed Trump about the bounties. Bolton’s briefing for Trump didn’t have “actionable intelligence,” officials told the Associated Press.

Felicia Arculeo, whose son Cpl. Robert Hendriks, 25, died in the attack, told CNBC earlier Monday that she wanted an investigation into the claims that the victims were targeted by Taliban fighters who may have been offered bounties by Russian military intelligence agents.

Sgt. Benjamin Hines, 31, and Staff Sgt. Christopher Slutman, 43, were the other Marines killed in the attack, which came days before they were due to return home from Afghanistan.

The Times on Friday first reported that U.S. intelligence agencies had assessed that a Russian intelligence unit last year offered bounties to Islamist fighters in Afghanistan who killed U.S. soldiers.

The Times also reported that Trump had been briefed on the matter in March, but as of yet had not decided on whether or how to retaliate against Russia after being presented with a menu of options.

However, Monday, The Times reported that Trump had access to the information earlier, in February. The newspaper reported that one of the officials it cited had said it appeared in the president’s daily brief on Feb. 27.

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said during a press briefing Monday that the president had not been briefed. Pressed on the matter by reporters, including whether that applied to the president’s daily briefing, she said: “He was not personally briefed on the matter. That is all I can share with you today, is that both the CIA director, the national security advisor, and the chief of staff can all confirm neither the president or the vice president was briefed.”

June 29, 2020 – Trump Got Written Briefing in February on Possible Russian Bounties, Officials Say

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, two officials familiar with the matter said.

The investigation into the suspected Russian covert operation to incentivize such killings has focused in part on an April 2019 car bombing that killed three Marines as one such potential attack, according to multiple 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.

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.

Moreover, a description of the intelligence assessment that the Russian unit had carried out the bounties plot was also seen as serious and solid enough to disseminate more broadly across the intelligence community in a May 4 article in the C.I.A.’s World Intelligence Review, a classified compendium commonly referred to as The Wire, two officials said.

A National Security Council spokesman declined to comment on any connection between the Marines’ deaths and the suspected Russian plot. The White House press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany, did not answer when pressed by reporters on Monday whether the intelligence was included in the written President’s Daily Brief, and the National Security Council spokesman pointed to her comments when asked later about the February written briefing.

Late Monday, John Ratcliffe, the recently confirmed director of national intelligence, issued a statement warning that leaks about the matter were a crime.

“We are still investigating the alleged intelligence referenced in recent media reporting, and we will brief the president and congressional leaders at the appropriate time,” he said. “This is the analytic process working the way it should. Unfortunately, unauthorized disclosures now jeopardize our ability to ever find out the full story with respect to these allegations.”

Of course without the unauthorized disclosures, there never would have been any effort to find out the full story, because no one would know a thing about Russia’s alleged bounty on U.S. military personnel. Would that be better?

The argument here seems to be that knowing there’s something to investigate encumbers the investigation. This is patent nonsense. It’s also what would be expected of an ardent republican Trump supporter, which was Ratcliffe’s main qualification for the job of Director of National Intelligence. Trump expressed the view that Ratcliffe was the very guy to “rein in” U.S. intelligence agencies that had “run amok”.

The disclosures came amid a growing furor in Washington over the revelations in recent days that the Trump administration had known for months about the intelligence conclusion but the White House had authorized no response to Russia.
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@Greg: FFS citing two officials with knowledge of the matter. Which 2 officials/ Boltons book?
Authorizing action without the information being verified, ya dumb, sounds just like Bush lied people died part 2.Bush’s first term in office, he told the BBC the U.S. was “confident that Saddam Hussein has hidden weapons of mass destruction and production .. Bolton the war monger?
Bolton who said Trump asked for their help but blames China for releasing the Kung Flu?
We shall see how this shakes out Pompeo also called Bolton a liar.

Bush didnt find him credible
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/06/john-bolton-tries-rewrite-history/613351/
The Atlantic – Left Center Bias – Liberal – Progressive – Democrat

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Authorizing action without the information being verified, ya dumb, sounds just like Bush lied people died part 2.

Who’s talking about authorizing action?

What people want to know is whether this is true, and how a President could have not even have been told that there was a such a question that needed to be answered.

I didn’t expect anyone to “authorize action” after Mohammed bin Salman’s personal bodyguards murdered, dismembered, and dissolved Jamal Khashoggi in acid. That doesn’t mean I didn’t want the truth to come out. There have been no consequences, even for those convicted of the crime. They were “forgiven” by Khashoggi’s family and released. No doubt there would have been consequences for the family, had they not done so. We then turned around and sold the Saudis $110 Billion in lethal military equipment, very useful in their war on Yemen. They promised to make U.S. investments. How effing wonderful.

We have no moral center with this administration. It’s just one damn thing after another. I find this, and the lies that shift blame and cover it all up, intolerable. It’s up to the American voters who expect far better for our nation to put a stop to it.

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@Greg:

Trump received a written briefing in February about intelligence regarding the alleged bounties, The New York Times reported Monday night, citing two officials with knowledge of the matter.

Names? Who are they? Are they actual people? Are they people who heard this from someone that heard it from someone who heard it from someone, like with impeachment? Yeah, get back to us when you KNOW something.

Chief Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman said in a statement to NBC News, “The Department of Defense continues to evaluate intelligence that Russian GRU operatives were engaged in malign activity against United States and coalition forces in Afghanistan.”

“To date, DOD has no corroborating evidence to validate the recent allegations found in open-source reports,” he said.

In other words, RUMORS.

We have no moral center with this administration

Hmmm… “moral” center from the guy that supports spying on a campaign, spying on US citizens, sham “investigations” based on “evidence” known to be lies, impeachment based totally on hearsay where all pretexts of due process and justice are trampled, encouraging citizens to continue to congregate and party in the midst of an epidemic, opposing travel bans to control the spread of a virus, spreading fear and panic for political gain, withholding desperately needed financial aid to businesses just to try and take credit for it, loading aid packages with PORK while citizens suffer. Yeah, maybe when you FIND your morals, you can work on centering them.

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@Greg: I certainly dont want to hear about moral center from a democrat. Barry and Stinky did nothing to stop the genocide of thousands of Christians the oldest christian sects on the planet. Loved the bring back our girls hashtag. Did Barry love watching the murdering in Bengahzi via drone so much he would not try to help? Bill hanging out with Jeffry and his little girls. His move in Lybia genius its all one big slave trading post now. Infantcide, F right the F off with your morals angle. We cant trust the IC depts til all the old marxists and moles are flushed out.

Who’s talking about authorizing action?

Russian bounty on US troops: Pelosi demands intelligence …
http://www.usatoday.com › news › politics › 2020/06/29 › ru…
22 hours ago – ‘Congress and the country need answers now’: Pelosi demands briefing … on intelligence reports that Russia offered bounties to Taliban militants for … steps the U.S. can take to punish Moscow for targeting American troops.
All why Germany buys their gas. Lets punish them too. War mongering SOBs.
We cant be rebuilding our defenses without someone to blow them up fresh off the factory floor.
I dont think Putin would have his super sonic missiles without Clintons silicon valley technology give away.

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3,502 total coalition deaths in Afghanistan since 2001
Americans lost under Trump
2017 – 17
2018 – 15
2019- 22
2020 -9
The first 4 years under Barry the numbers are in the hundreds.
Seems opium and human trafficking are bigger money makers for the group.

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@kitt:

Pelosi demands intelligence

Well, she can demand all she want. She’s still stupid.

Are military lives the new Democrat pawns? They’ve been using black lives for decades, but they’ve always hated the military. Now we are supposed to believe they care?

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It’s fortunate for you folks that Trump’s job approval rating of minus 15 percent is no more real or relevant than the COVID-19 surge now sweeping across the the western and southern United States.

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@Greg: @Thanks, left wing rioters.

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Preposterous assertion of the day, from White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany:

“This President, I will tell you, is the most informed person on planet Earth when it comes to the threats we face.”

Does that include COVID-19?

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@Greg: Not a covid thread, its about another Fake Russia conspiracy, try to hold a thought a bit longer than your candidate for President.

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@Greg: Obviously it does. While Democrats supported keeping all overseas travel open, opposed social distancing and ignored precautions, Trump was taking action.

I wonder why Obama ignored REAL threats of Iran wanting to build nuclear weapons to take out another free nation?

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A vote for TЯUMP is a vote for PUTIN.

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How is that? Trump was hard on Putin while idiot Biden enabled his war.

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