Trump says no 'credible' intel Russia offered Taliban bounty payments to kill Americans
Category: News & Politics
Via: tessylo • 4 years ago • 78 commentsBy: LINDA GIVETASH AND KELLY O'DONNELL AND MATTHEW BODNER AND KEN DILANIAN AND COURTNEY KUBE, NBC Universal
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
President Donald Trump said that U.S. intelligence officials had "just" told him there was no credible information suggesting Russian intelligence had offered to pay bounties to Taliban militants who killed American soldiers.
Because of this, intelligence officials had not initially reported the allegations to him or Vice President Mike Pence, Trump wrote in a tweet late on Sunday.
The news first reported by The New York Times on Friday triggered calls for a congressional investigation .
NBC News' sources were not able to make it clear how persuasive the intelligence is. A source told The Times that the assessment was based in part on interviews with Afghan detainees. That alone would not prove the case, but the U.S. would almost certainly have tried to get communications intercepts from the Russians that shed light. In the past, the National Security Agency has had success penetrating Russia's military intelligence unit, the GRU.
Earlier, Trump tweeted that "nobody briefed or told me," Vice President Mike Pence or White House chief of staff Mark Meadows about the intelligence. He called for The Times to "reveal" its sourcing.
Late on Saturday, National Intelligence Director John Ratcliffe also denied Trump had been briefed.
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany also said in a statement Saturday that the president and other top officials were not "briefed on the alleged Russian bounty intelligence."
However, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told ABC's "This Week" on Sunday the president "wants to ignore any allegation against Russia" by denying knowledge of the intelligence.
"The president will not confront the Russians on this score, denies being briefed," Pelosi said. "Whether he is or not, his administration knows, and our allies — some of our allies who work with us in Afghanistan — had been briefed and accept this report."
The intelligence had been shared with congressional leaders and the British government, according to NBC News sources.
The president's latest comments followed a call by Trump ally Sen. Lindsay Graham , R-S.C., for Congress to "get to the bottom" of the reports.
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., who is on the Armed Services military personnel subcommittee, also called for a joint congressional investigation in a statement on Sunday.
The Associated Press reported the Trump administration was set to brief select members of Congress on the matter on Monday.
The Kremlin has not commented on the intelligence reports. However, Russia’s Foreign Ministry has denied the claims it paid militants in Afghanistan.
“This unsophisticated fabrication demonstrates the low intellectual abilities of propagandists in the American intelligence community,” the ministry told Russian state news agency RIA Novosti on Saturday.
An intelligence official said the report is not particularly surprising given the fraught history between the U.S. and Russia. The U.S. armed Afghan fighters with missiles to shoot down Soviet helicopters in the 1980s when the Soviet Union was fighting in Afghanistan, part of a CIA covert action that killed many Russians. In 2018, U.S. forces killed a number of Russian mercenaries who were operating with pro-regime forces in Syria.
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So which is it?
No one gave you intel./you were never briefed?
Or it's not credible?
Seems like tRump gets to have it both ways.
NBC can't confirm the story and the New York Times is again using unnamed sources. It sounds so oddly familiar.
"a lot of people tell me..." donald j trump = russian asset, agent orange...
We heard it for three years and ya, some of it stuck.
I think they should also call him agent yellow - we know he loves the golden showers - especially from Slovenian prostitutes. I heard while in Russia, he got golden showers from under aged prostitutes while in the suite President Obama and First Lady Michelle had occupied.
I heard he married Melania for just that reason - selected her from a crop of Slovenian prostitutes and she peed on him the best!
We also know that he has been laundering money for the Russians for many, many, many years now.
The White House - now the White Trash House tRump administration criminal enterprise.
laundering commie cash in the US was part of the loan package. laundering cash is the primary agenda of the modern republican party.
Like the NRA. I hear they're not doing so good financially, that's such a shame.
too fucking bad, huh? their primary functions are to protect illegal domestic arms dealers and play king maker for the party of domestic terrorism, white supremacy, and fascism.
The yellow also describes the streak down his back.
trumpski's primary source on russian intelligence is his pal putin...
Pillow talk?
tRump's knees were probably on a pillow at the time.
NBC News' sources were not able to make it clear how persuasive the intelligence is. A source told The Times that the assessment was based in part on interviews with Afghan detainees. That alone would not prove the case, but the U.S. would almost certainly have tried to get communications intercepts from the Russians that shed light. In the past, the National Security Agency has had success penetrating Russia's military intelligence unit, the GRU.
So this would seem to indicate that this allegation has no credible evidence to verify its truth. I would tend to believe the intelligence community rather some leftist propaganda being spouted by the likes of Pelosi.
Yeah, they're trying to attain credibility by grasping at any available straws, but in the end they will lose the believability factor by the hard hitting reality of their self imposed mistakes.
I don't place too much hope in the idea that we will get to the bottom of this. There are people up and down the Trump administration that will lie on his behalf. We need to throw all the bums out.
This one might have some legs John...... for obvious reasons related to military personnel and congress needing to be seen being concerned about them.
One other possibility here..... I think there are a number of republicans that are worried about their own reelection prospects this cycle, and this issue just might give them the opportunity to break from Trump. We'll see.
17 died in 2019, and 4 in 2020.
Care to explain how you got from point A to B with that statement.....?
Never mind..... we'll leave it be as an example of your logical thought process where: No = Almost
Tell the families that they buried a zero casualty. I am sure that will make them feel better.
What critical thinking are tRump and his supporters guilty of?
You offer no critical thinking.
You just say that my article is wrong.
tRump supporters are the ones getting duped, daily.
You Believe the unsubstantiated report ?
Talk about Intellectually lazy !
You are quite astute.
Intellectually lazy !
Now.... Do you believe the unsubstantiated report by the "NY Times" ?
Some don't suffer fools gladly
What ?????
Meh, it has been obvious for a long time that Trump doesn't give a shit about military personnel.
From a devout agnostic ...... Amen to that
He knew, he just doesn't care.
I actually, partially, agree with Trump on this one.
Was he briefed?...yes.
Did he pay attention to that briefing?...no.
Trump doesn't read his intelligence reports, but looks at the graphs, charts, and tables
Trump Gets Oral Intel Briefing Without Text
It's not just that Donald Trump doesn't read his briefing reports. Apparently, you can't even hold his attention—or give him bad news—while briefing him in person.
"I actually, partially, agree with Trump on this one.
Was he briefed?...yes.
Did he pay attention to that briefing?...no."
So what is prick Pence's excuse then? And the other senior officials?
Pence has an out on the briefing too....Pence couldn't hear because he had head up Trump's ass.....
Here's why:
Same as usual, doing their job, covering for the ignoramus and chief. That's the entire reason they've been hired.
Plausible deniability......??? Maybe on the existence of what is at Area 51, but not on this topic. Trump and his WH team are up to their necks in nothing but bad answers of their own doing.
Just wait, at some point there will be a Whitehouse announcement that it was all Obama's fault.
Those pesky daily briefings interfere with his golfing, tweeting, and patting himself on the back.
He doesn't pat himself on the back, that why he hires all those spineless "yes men". I doubt he could reach his back if he tried.
He would tear his rotator cuff if he patted himself on the back
I'm sure you could provide a link to some news source that shows our European allies have confirmed this? I have searched bbc.com and cannot find anything where it talks about any sort of confirmation. closest it comes is where it says
But that is hardly any confirmation coming from our allies in Europe.
"suggesting that an intelligence assessment that Russian agents were offering bounties to the Taliban for the killing of US or coalition troops had been around since March; that significant amounts of cash had been seized in US raids; and that some US personnel may indeed have been killed as a result."
The information has been around since JANUARY
I posted what was in the article on the BBC. That's why I asked for your a link to your data because you posted where our European allies had confirmed the reports that Russia was offering bounties for US troops killed. I'm trying to find the confirmation is all. all I have seen so far is innuendo or suggestions, no facts.
All I see from you is innuendo or suggestions, no facts.
I politely asked a fucking question as to your source for your information because you seem to post it as fact and I have not been able to find any thing to corroborate this news. And all you can come back with is snark. Have a nice day, back to ignoring you.
See fucking #7
I see you ignored that.
Try this Snuffy.. For an independent BBC update
President Trump, confronted with a damaging report that Russia offered bounties to Taliban-linked militants to kill American and allied troops in Afghanistan, declared Sunday on Twitter that he was never briefed about the finding by U.S. intelligence.
Democrats including Trump’s prospective presidential rival, Joe Biden, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi sharply criticized Trump’s seeming indifference to the explosive report in Friday’s New York Times. Neither Trump nor other administration officials have specifically denied the report, which has since been confirmed by several other news organizations.
On Sunday, Republican Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming joined in the criticism, saying that if the information was genuine, the White House needed to explain why Trump was not told, and why the administration has done nothing in response.
The core of the story is that U.S. spy agencies concluded several months ago that a Russian military intelligence unit had offered secret bounties for attacks on coalition troops. The matter was discussed in late March by the National Security Council, and European allies including Britain were also made aware of the findings, the story said. On Sunday, the New York Times reported that the first word of the Russian plan came as early as January from military and intelligence officials in Afghanistan.
"Trump" and "no credible intelligence"... almost synonymous...