Susan Rice: 'Makes No Sense' That Trump Wasn't Told Of Russia Bounties.

I understand that the NY Times has no love of anything Conservative and they have stated that one of their missions is to end the Trump Presidency.

That does not address the comments I made (and which you quoted), McG.

In any case, it should be the mission of anyone with a functioning brain to end the Trump presidency. He is a moron...and doing more damage to our nation than America's foreign enemies. The end of this presidency should be a goal of EVERYONE.

Reporters are not normally required to disclose their sources if doing so would jeopardize the job security or physical safety of those providing the information. Do we have a Russian defector who admits to the whole plan? No. Do we know that Russia has been supplying the Taliban with money and equipment the way we supported the Mujaheddin when the USSR was bogged down in Afghanistan? Yes. Evidently some of the people in the field believe that bounties were offered, but whether it was a formal arrangement or whether widely distributed Russian money simply found its way into units which killed coalition soldiers may never be known with absolute certainty. The consequences, however, are the same. The Times reporters didn't violate any standards of journalism by reporting what they were told by people on the ground.

No, they violated them all. The last 4 years they have had no standards. They are political activists not reporters. They have moved past bias.

Journalists job is to report news discovered by questioning solders on the ground. And I would believe them way before I would believe a lying politician.

I know you are especially fond of lying bureaucrats.

https://www.newsmax.com/newsmax-tv/doug-collins-susan-rice-house-democrats/2020/05/23/id/968705/

If we don't reelect Mr. Trump it's going to be open season on white people. Look what they are already doing to white people who try to protect themselves. I prefer to not be murdered, thank you.

So, you're saying we need to re-elect Trump to get rid of black people?

Mr. Trump is not going to get rid of black people. He is only going to prevent them from raping and murdering people.

If Mr. Biden wins, it's going to be open season on white people.

But I am not found of lying posters like you.

You are the only person here who is lying. You cannot provide any examples of an untrue statement from his posts.

If Fox News hasn't reported on this it probably isn't true.

Fox News is the only network that can be trusted.

I'd trust Fox over CNN and MSNBC any day.

Although my preference is for PBS and NPR, and I still trust them.

That means lost, like Biden's brain.

White House aware in 2019 of Russian bounties on American troops in Afghanistan, officials say
James LaPorta, The Associated Press
June 29

Top officials in the White House were aware in early 2019 of classified intelligence indicating Russia was secretly offering bounties to the Taliban for the deaths of Americans, a full year earlier than has been previously reported, according to U.S. officials with direct knowledge of the intelligence.

The assessment was included in at least one of President Donald Trump’s written daily intelligence briefings at the time, according to the officials. Then-national security adviser John Bolton also told colleagues he briefed Trump on the intelligence assessment in March 2019.

The White House did not respond to questions about Trump or other officials’ awareness of Russia’s provocations in 2019. The White House has said Trump was not — and still has not been — briefed on the intelligence assessments because they have not been fully verified. However, it is rare for intelligence to be confirmed without a shadow of a doubt before it is presented to top officials.

Bolton declined to comment Monday when asked by the AP if he had briefed Trump about the matter in 2019. On Sunday, he suggested to NBC’s “Meet the Press” that Trump was claiming ignorance of Russia’s provocations to justify his administration’s lack of a response.

“He can disown everything if nobody ever told him about it,” Bolton said.


Trump denies briefing on reported bounties against American troops in Afghanistan

The White House said Monday that President Donald Trump wasn’t briefed on U.S. intelligence assessments earlier this year that Russia secretly offered bounties to Taliban-linked militants for killing American troops in Afghanistan because the information had not been “verified.”

The revelations cast new doubt on the White House’s efforts to distance Trump from the Russian intelligence assessments. The AP reported Sunday that concerns about Russian bounties were also included in a second written presidential daily briefing earlier this year and that current national security adviser Robert O’Brien had discussed the matter with Trump. O’Brien denies he did so.

On Monday night, O’Brien said that while the intelligence assessments regarding Russian bounties “have not been verified,” the administration has “been preparing should the situation warrant action.”

The administration’s earlier awareness of the Russian efforts raises additional questions about why Trump did not take any punitive action against Moscow for efforts that put the lives of Americans service members at risk. Trump has sought throughout his time in office to improve relations with Russia and its president, Vladimir Putin, moving earlier this year to try to reinstate Russia as part of a group of world leaders it had been kicked out of.

Officials said they did not consider the intelligence assessments in 2019 to be particularly urgent, given that Russian meddling in Afghanistan is not a new occurrence. The officials with knowledge of Bolton’s apparent briefing for Trump said it contained no “actionable intelligence,” meaning the intelligence community did not have enough information to form a strategic plan or response. However, the classified assessment of Russian bounties was the sole purpose of the meeting.

The officials insisted on anonymity because they were not authorized to disclose the highly sensitive information.

The intelligence that surfaced in early 2019 indicated Russian operatives had become more aggressive in their desire to contract with the Taliban and members of the Haqqani Network, a militant group aligned with the Taliban in Afghanistan and designated a foreign terrorist organization in 2012 during the Obama administration.

The National Security Council and the undersecretary of defense for intelligence did hold meetings regarding the intelligence. The Pentagon declined to comment and the NSC did not respond to questions about the meetings.

Concerns about Russian bounties flared anew this year after members of the elite Naval Special Warfare Development Group, known to the public as SEAL Team Six, raided a Taliban outpost and recovered roughly $500,000 in U.S. currency. The funds bolstered the suspicions of the American intelligence community that the Russians had offered money to Taliban militants and other linked associations.

The White House contends the president was unaware of this development as well.

The officials told the AP that career government officials developed potential options for the White House to respond to the Russian aggression in Afghanistan, which was first reported by The New York Times. However, the Trump administration has yet to authorize any action.

The intelligence in 2019 and 2020 surrounding Russian bounties was derived in part from debriefings of captured Taliban militants. Officials with knowledge of the matter told the AP that Taliban operatives from opposite ends of the country and from separate tribes offered similar accounts.

The officials would not name the specific groups or give specific locations in Afghanistan or time frames for when they were detained.

Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for Putin, denied that Russian intelligence officers had offered payments to the Taliban in exchange for targeting U.S. and coalition forces.

The U.S. is investigating whether any Americans died as a result of the Russian bounties. Officials are focused in particular on an April 2019 attack on an American convoy. Three U.S. Marines were killed after a car rigged with explosives detonated near their armored vehicles as they returned to Bagram Airfield, the largest U.S. military installation in Afghanistan.

The Marines exchanged gunfire with the vehicle at some point; however, it’s not known if the gunfire occurred before or after the car exploded.

Abdul Raqib Kohistani, the Bagram district police chief, said at the time that at least five Afghan civilians were wounded after the attack on the convoy, according to previous reporting by the AP. It is not known if the civilians were injured by the car bomb or the gunfire from U.S. Marines.

The Defense Department identified Marine Staff Sgt. Christopher Slutman, 43, of Newark, Delaware; Sgt. Benjamin Hines, 31, of York, Pennsylvania; and Cpl. Robert Hendriks, 25, of Locust Valley, New York, as the Marines killed in April 2019. The three Marines were all infantrymen assigned to 2nd Battalion, 25th Marines, a reserve infantry unit headquartered out of Garden City, New York.

Hendriks’ father told the AP that even a rumor of Russian bounties should have been immediately addressed.

“If this was kind of swept under the carpet as to not make it a bigger issue with Russia, and one ounce of blood was spilled when they knew this, I lost all respect for this administration and everything,” Erik Hendriks said.

Marine Maj. Roger Hollenbeck said at the time that the reserve unit was a part of the Georgia Deployment Program-Resolute Support Mission, a recurring six-month rotation between U.S. Marines and Georgian Armed Forces. The unit first deployed to Afghanistan in October 2018.

Three other service members and an Afghan contractor were also wounded in the attack. As of April 2019, the attack was under a separate investigation, unrelated to the Russian bounties, to determine how it unfolded.

The officials who spoke to the AP also said they were looking closely at insider attacks — sometimes called “green-on-blue” incidents — from 2019 to determine if they are also linked to Russian bounties.

In a statement released late Monday, Jonathan Hoffman, the chief Pentagon spokesman, said: “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. 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.”

https://www.militarytimes.com/news/pentagon-congress/2020/06/29/white-house-aware-in-2019-of-russian-bounties-on-american-troops-in-afghanistan-officials-say/

I always laugh how conspiracy theorists wade through mounds of garbage to find what they believe while the truth just sits there waiting for their attention.

Yes, because The Military Times thrives on garbage from civilians who play WoW and think they can win a battle.

Secretary of Defense Mark Esper says he was briefed on intelligence about Russian payments to the Taliban
NATION/WORLD
by: CNN Wire

Posted: Jul 9, 2020 / 06:32 PM PDT / Updated: Jul 9, 2020 / 06:33 PM PDT

Secretary of Defense Mark Esper confirmed Thursday that he had been briefed on information regarding Russian payments to the Taliban, seemingly acknowledging that Russia’s support for the militant group in Afghanistan is not a “hoax,” as President Donald Trump has claimed. However, Esper also made clear that he has not seen intelligence that corroborates claims that American troops were killed as a result of the “bounty” payments, walking a delicate line between acknowledging a well-known threat and potentially clashing with the President.

Esper’s comments came during a long-awaited appearance before the House Armed Services Committee, where lawmakers had their first opportunity to ask the defense secretary and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley about their knowledge of intelligence on Russia offering bounties to the Taliban for killing US troops in Afghanistan.

It was clear that both men attempted to carefully navigate questions from lawmakers, but Esper admitted exercising particular caution while addressing inquiries about whether he had been briefed on the matter and when.

Responding to a very narrow line of questioning from Rep. Mike Turner, an Ohio Republican, Esper initially told lawmakers that he did not recall a briefing that included the word “bounty,” but less than an hour later he clarified that answer when pressed by a Democratic member of the panel.

At that time, Esper explained that his response to Turner’s question had been tailored to address whether the word “bounty” had ever been included in any briefing he had received and that he had refrained from elaborating further at the time in an effort to avoid politicizing the issue.

He went on to tell lawmakers that he had seen intelligence about Russian payments to the Taliban in February but added that his top generals did not believe those initial reports were credible at the time, a claim that appears to clash with comments made by one of those commanders on Tuesday, who called the reports “very worrisome.”

While that distinction does not explicitly address lingering questions about the exact nature of the intelligence cited in recent reports or explain the Trump administration’s seemingly muted response to concerns about Russia’s support for the Taliban, it does, at very least, undercut the President’s claim that the issue is simply a “hoax” perpetrated by Democrats.

Still, there appears to be a gap between Esper’s assessment of the intelligence and that of other top military commanders.

The top US general overseeing operations in the Middle East and Afghanistan said Tuesday that the intelligence concerning Russian operatives offering bounties to Taliban-linked militants was “very worrisome” but that it wasn’t solid enough to hold up in a court of law.

Gen. Frank McKenzie, the commander of US Central Command, told a small group of reporters while traveling to the region that he was not convinced that the Russian bounty program was directly responsible for the deaths of US personnel.

“The intelligence wasn’t proved to me. It was proved enough to worry me. It wasn’t proved enough that I’d take it to a court of law. That’s often true in battlefield intelligence,” McKenzie said, according to a transcript provided by the Defense Department.

‘We’re going to get to the bottom of all that’

Still, Esper and Milley assured members of the committee Thursday that the military is looking into the reports of Russian bounties for killing US troops in Afghanistan.

“We’re going to get to the bottom of all that, but I can assure the families that the force protection of our force is — not only for me, but for every commander all the way down the line — that’s the number one priority for every one of us. Absolutely,” Milley said.

The top US general also emphasized that Russia’s support for the Taliban in Afghanistan has been well known for years and that its involvement remains a concern despite the fact that he has not seen intelligence corroborating specific claims about bounties on American forces.

“We’re going to find out if in fact it’s true. And if it is true, we will take action,” Milley said. “We’ve known for years that the Russians have been involved, for their own national security interests, in Afghanistan. And the Russians are not our friends. And their involvement is worrisome.”

Esper told lawmakers he agreed with that assessment and stressed that the military continues to prioritize force protection.

“I share the same views as the chairman. The Russians have been involved, and many many other countries, and many other players — you know, non-state players — in Afghanistan for a long time,” he said.

“We take all that into account. And I can tell you on other occasions we have adapted force posture, we have adapted authorities, equipment, you name it, rules of engagement, to make sure that our forces are well protected and able to accomplish their mission,” Esper added.

While there are still unanswered questions about intelligence on Russian bounties after Thursday’s hearing, the testimony from top military leaders will likely reinforce bipartisan concerns about the broader US effort to deter Russia and other foreign governments from supporting militant groups in Afghanistan.

Milley acknowledged that the Trump administration was “perhaps not” doing “as much as we could or should” to deter Russia and other foreign governments from supporting militant groups in Afghanistan.

Specifically, Milley said he believes there is not currently a viable military response but suggested the US could take additional strategic action to better address Russia’s support for the Taliban.

Lingering concerns

Esper’s and Milley’s testimony comes as several former national security officials also voiced concerns about the need for a response should claims about Russian bounties be verified.

Celeste Wallander, former special assistant to the President and senior director for Russia/Eurasia at the National Security Council, said Thursday that the Russians offering bounties for US troops is an escalation because “if true, it is an act, a policy of the Russian Ministry of Defense and political leadership, to have American soldiers killed.”

“Normally the United States and Russia seek to deconflict in theaters, like in Syria,” she noted during the House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing. “Even during the Cold War, the Soviet Union and the United States, when they were involved in conflicts in the same region, took great care to not kill one another’s soldiers because of the potential escalatory implications.”

“So that’s why it’s significant,” she said. Wallander added that she believed the motivation for Russia to want to kill US troops was tied to it trying to drive the US out of Afghanistan.

“They don’t want us there. They don’t want NATO there,” she said, adding they would use bounties because “they want to exploit the deniability, the asymmetric operations. They want to have the benefit of the action without the costs.”

During the hearing, retired Gen. John Nicholson, the former commander of US Forces Afghanistan, said the information — if validated — “calls into question the good faith of the Taliban” and he called for the US force presence to remain steady.

“I think that this level of 8,600, we should hold there until the Taliban deliver on their portion of the peace agreement and we move to the next stage,” he said.

However, Nicholson pointed to Russia’s provision of small arms to the Taliban, saying that “specifically offering bounties is a small step from what they were already doing.” He said he has “no doubt” that small arms from the Russians were used by the Taliban “against Afghan units with American advisers, especially in the Kunduz area.”

Nicholson called on the Taliban to sever ties with al Qaeda, begin the peace talks and lower their levels of violence.

https://ktla.com/news/nationworld/secretary-of-defense-mark-esper-says-he-was-briefed-on-intelligence-about-russian-payments-to-the-taliban/