Trump finally responds to reports of Russian bounties on American soldiers in Afghanistan

The Trump administration is declassifying as-yet uncorroborated intelligence, recently briefed to President Trump, that indicates China offered to pay non-state actors in Afghanistan to attack American soldiers, two senior administration officials tell Axios.

[...]

Officials would not describe the source or sources of the intelligence or say when or over what period of time the activity occurred.

One said: "The U.S. has evidence that the PRC [People's Republic of China] attempted to finance attacks on American servicemen by Afghan non-state actors by offering financial incentives or 'bounties'" and said the National Security Council "is coordinating a whole-of-government investigation."

[...]

It seems "incongruous" that China would take such a provocative action in Afghanistan, Andrew Small, a senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund who specializes in China-Afghanistan affairs, told Axios.

Pursuing peace in Afghanistan is "one of the extremely rare areas where the US and China still have a willingness to work together on an area of importance," Small said. "They know the drawdown is taking place. We’re not in the context where anything else needs to happen to US troops in Afghanistan. There is no reason to create additional pressure on US forces."

  Axios

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Inching along in the Senate

Senate Democrats Thursday introduced a new bill to that would require President Trump to impose sanctions on any Russian official or entity that is found to be involved in offering bounties to the Taliban for attacks on U.S. or allied troops in Afghanistan.

[...]

Specifically, the bill would mandate Trump certify if Moscow “offered, ordered, directed, or was otherwise responsible for bounties” for the killing of coalition troops and, if he does, impose sanctions on President Vladimir Putin “or any person acting for or on behalf of him” as well as any Russian government, defense or intelligence official involved in the efforts.

  The Hill

"If he does." Sounds like this bill is dead on arrival.

The bill goes beyond sanctions for the bounties, saying Trump must slap penalties on “persons that facilitate illicit and corrupt activities on behalf of President Putin, including oligarchs, political figures, and their family members.”

The bill would also authorize $50 million per year in rewards for people who provide information on Russian bounties against troops and $30 million each year for the State Department’s Global Engagement Center’s efforts to counter Russian influence in South and Central Asia.

Dead and buried.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Hmmmmm

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has warned Russia’s foreign minister against Moscow paying bounties to Taliban-linked militants and other Afghan fighters for killing American service members, U.S. officials said.

Mr. Pompeo’s warning is the first known rebuke from a senior American official to Russia over the bounties program, and it runs counter to President Trump’s insistence that the intelligence from U.S. government agencies over the matter is a “hoax.” The action indicates that Mr. Pompeo, who previously served as Mr. Trump’s C.I.A. director, believes the intelligence warranted a stern message.

Mr. Pompeo delivered the warning in a call on July 13 with the minister, Sergey V. Lavrov, choosing to do so during a conversation that, officially, was about an unrelated topic — the possibility of a meeting of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, the U.S. officials said in the past week.

[...]

In the call, Mr. Pompeo made it clear to Mr. Lavrov in language about payouts and red lines that the United States was strongly opposed to the program, the official said, adding that the secretary of state had been livid about what the intelligence had said about the bounties.

[...]

In public, Mr. Pompeo has carefully avoided answering direct questions about American intelligence on the Russian bounties. But late last month in congressional testimony, he said broadly that he had raised with Mr. Lavrov “all of the issues” that put American interests at risk.

[...]

Mr. Pompeo’s private move is the latest example of a common occurrence in the administration: American officials quietly carrying out actions that are at odds with Mr. Trump’s statements and his stance on important issues.

  NYT

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Pathetic and paranoid

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Never even asked

President Donald Trump said he never questioned Russian leader Vladimir Putin about US intelligence reports that Moscow paid the Taliban to kill American troops in Afghanistan, casting doubt on the reports in an interview. "I have never discussed it with him," Trump said in an interview on Tuesday with the programme, Axios on HBO.

[...]

Asked why he did not confront Putin on the issue in their call last Thursday, Trump told Axios, "That was a phone call to discuss other things, and frankly, that's an issue that many people said was fake news."

  alJazeera

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Ouch

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

VoteVets pulling no punches

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Tell us something we don't know

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Dear God

Perhaps not the best idea for Trump and his campaign to be talking about Joe Biden being addled.

But beyond the obvious, is it really a good tactic to be emphasizing military service while the news is fresh that he did absolutely nothing about the Russians putting bounties on American soldiers in Afghanistan?

One thing I keep thinking whenever I see pictures of him at a lectern:  He doesn't even have the strength to hold himself upright.  He's always leaning.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Let's talk about Russia

And in 2036, they'll "vote" to keep him in until he dies.

Next...

A small-time businessman became a key middleman for bounties on coalition troops in Afghanistan, U.S. intelligence reports say.

[...]

[ Rahmatullah Azizi] was a lowly drug smuggler, neighbors and relatives say, then ventured into contracting, seeking a slice of the billions of dollars the U.S.-led coalition was funneling into construction projects in Afghanistan.

But he really began to show off his wealth in recent years, after establishing a base in Russia, though how he earned those riches remained mysterious. On his regular trips home to northern Afghanistan, he drove the latest model cars, protected by bodyguards, and his house was recently upgraded to a four-story villa.

[...]

As security agencies connected the dots of the bounty scheme and narrowed in on him, they carried out sweeping raids to arrest dozens of his relatives and associates about six months ago, but discovered that Mr. Azizi had sneaked out of Afghanistan and was likely back in Russia. What they did find in one of his homes, in Kabul, was about half a million dollars in cash.

American and Afghan officials have maintained for years that Russia was running clandestine operations to undermine the U.S. mission in Afghanistan and aid the Taliban.

But U.S. officials only recently concluded that a Russian spy agency was paying bounties for killing coalition troops, including Americans, which the Kremlin and the Taliban have denied.

[...]

Russia has walked a fine balance in recent years, eager to bloody the American nose, but wary of Afghanistan collapsing into a chaos that could spill over its borders. Publicly, Russia has admitted only to information-sharing with the Taliban in fighting the Islamic State in Afghanistan, a common foe.

[...]

U.S. intelligence officials believe the program is run by Unit 29155, an arm of the Russian military intelligence agency known as the G.R.U. that has carried out assassinations and other operations overseas.

[...]

Details of Mr. Azizi’s role in the bounty scheme were confirmed through a dozen interviews that included U.S. and Afghan officials aware of the intelligence and the raids that led to it; his neighbors and friends; and business associates of the middle men arrested on suspicion of involvement.

[...]

Afghan officials said prizes of as much as $100,000 per killed soldier were offered for American and coalition targets.

[...]

About six months ago, Afghanistan’s intelligence agency, the National Directorate of Security, raided the offices of several Hawala businessmen both in Kabul, the capital, and in Kunduz, in the north, who were believed to be associated with the bounty scheme, making more than a dozen arrests.

[...]

Some of the attacks believed to be part of the bounty scheme were carried out around the time the Trump administration was actively reaching out to Russia for cooperation on [...] peace talks. Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. special envoy leading the talks, repeatedly met with Russian officials to build consensus around the American endgame.

  NYT

And...

"The President has created an environment that dissuades, if not prohibits, the mentioning of any intelligence that isn't favorable to Russia," a former senior member of Trump's national security staff told me.

In response, his briefers -- who must make difficult judgment calls every day on which intelligence to highlight to the President -- reduced the amount of Russian-related intelligence they included in his oral briefings, instead often placing it only in his written briefing book, a document that is provided daily and sometimes extended to several dozen pages containing the intelligence community's most important information.

But his briefers discovered over time that he often did not read the briefing book, leaving him unaware of crucial intelligence, including threats related to Russia and other parts of the world.

When asked about CNN's reporting that Trump is resistant to intelligence warnings about Russia, Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe told CNN, "this is totally false" in a statement Tuesday.

  CNN

It's totally true. It's been noted and reported many times.

[National security adviser Robert O'Brien] called it "ridiculous" that any information would be held back from the President over fears it would upset him. "We brief him on everything he needs to know to keep the country safe. So any thought that we wouldn't brief him on something because it would anger him, I don't even know how to respond to that question."

Truthfully. He's obviously figured out how to respond with bullshit.

Asked whether there needs to be consensus within the intelligence community before present information to the President, former House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers told Jake Tapper on CNN's "The Lead," "no, not really."

Referring to McEnany, he added, "by the way, when she says there is dissent across the intelligence community, this is more than some errant piece of intelligence that might come in or get thrown over the transom, either by an ally or some other collection, where there just wasn't enough to it. Clearly there was enough, there was lots of discussion, and oftentimes even where there is an affirmative agreement on what we think the intelligence says, there will be dissenting opinion and that dissenting opinion is normally heard, because you need that information to make a good decision."

[...]

The President's reluctance to hear intelligence about Russia fits into his growing disinterest in his intelligence briefings in general and may explain why the White House is currently denying that he was aware of intelligence about Russia offering the Taliban bounties to kill US soldiers -- even though former intelligence officials say that it's "inconceivable" that Trump would not have been briefed on the bounties, which the New York Times first reported Friday evening.

Lincoln Project still swinging

Reports that they've known about the Russian bounties for over a year

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 United States officials with direct knowledge of the intelligence.

The information came out overnight from White House officials who reiterated the president was unaware, according to the Associated Press news agency (AP).

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 at the time that he briefed Trump on the intelligence assessment in March 2019.

[...]

The White House has said Trump wasn't - and still hasn't 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.

[...]

On Sunday, [former NSA John Bolton] suggested to NBC that Trump was claiming ignorance of Russia's provocations to justify his administration's lack of response.

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

[...]

Officials said they did not consider the intelligence assessments in 2019 to be particularly urgent, given 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 National Security Council (NSC) and the undersecretary of defense for intelligence held meetings regarding the intelligence. The NSC didn't respond to questions about the meetings.

[...]

Late Monday, the Pentagon issued a statement saying it was evaluating the intelligence but so far had "no corroborating evidence to validate the recent allegations".

"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," said Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman.

[...]

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.

[...]

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 US currency.

[...]

The White House contends the president was unaware of this development, too.
  alJazeera

JFC. "Nobody tells me anything" is a great defense for a president.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE:

UPDATE:

"Officials" are not taking the blame

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 assessments pointing to a Russian scheme to offer bounties to Taliban-linked militants and criminals were based on information collected in raids and interrogations on the ground in Afghanistan, where American military commanders came to believe Russia was behind the plot, as well as more sensitive and unspecified intelligence that came in over time, an American official said.

[...]

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.

  NYT

And nobody blew the whistle.

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.

But allowing the Russians to bribe Taliban fighters to kill Americans without a word, and lying about it, isn't.

“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.

The appropriate time to brief Congress was March.

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.

[...]

“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[,” Ratcliffe said.]

Sure.

Top Democrats in the House and Senate demanded that all members of Congress be briefed, and the White House summoned a small group of House Republicans friendly to the president to begin explaining its position.

Let me fix that: The White House summoned a small group of House Republicans friendly to the president to give them their marching orders on what to say. There's no other reason to talk to only Republicans. And particularly only to "Republicans friendly to the president."

Mark Meadows, the White House chief of staff; Mr. Ratcliffe, the director of national intelligence; and Mr. O’Brien briefed a handful of invited House Republicans. A group of House Democrats was scheduled to go to the White House on Tuesday morning to receive a similar briefing.

And what could be the reason - other than giving Republicans their ass-covering orders - to have a separate briefing for Democrats?

The [Republican] lawmakers emerged saying that they were told the administration was reviewing reporting about the suspected Russian plot to assess its credibility.

Thay've had four months to do that.

[T]wo of the Republicans — Representatives Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Mac Thornberry of Texas — said that they “remain concerned about Russian activity in Afghanistan, including reports that they have targeted U.S. forces” and would need additional briefings.

“It has been clear for some time that Russia does not wish us well in Afghanistan,” they said in a joint statement. “We believe it is important to vigorously pursue any information related to Russia or any other country targeting our forces.”

You think?

Other Republicans who attended the briefing were more sanguine. In an interview, Representative Chris Stewart of Utah said he saw nothing unusual about the purported decision not to orally inform Mr. Trump, particularly when the situation did not require the president to take immediate action.

Stewart took his marching orders seriously. But please note: the "decision not to orally inform Mr. Trump" implies that the ass-coverers do not deny that the information was in the daily briefing. They know there are copies. It's harder to prove he was told "orally", which should not matter even if he weren't, which he no doubt was.

“It just didn’t reach the level of credibility to bring it to the president’s attention,” he said, adding that military and intelligence agencies should continue to scrutinize Russia’s activities.

That's their story, and they're sticking to it.

They also said the underlying intelligence was conflicting, echoing comments from Ms. McEnany that the information in the assessment had not been “verified” because, she said without detail, there were “dissenting opinions” among analysts or agencies. [...] “And, in fact, there were dissenting opinions within the intelligence community, and it would not be elevated to the president until it was verified.”

A bald faced lie. The president was briefed four months ago.

But in denying that Mr. Trump was briefed, administration officials have been coy about how it is defining that concept and whether it includes both oral briefings and the President’s Daily Brief. “He was not personally briefed on the matter,” Ms. McEnany told reporters when asked specifically about the written briefing. “That is all I can share with you today.”

Total bullshit. Him ignoring it does not mean it didn't happen.

Officials said there was disagreement among intelligence officials about the strength of the evidence about the suspected Russian plot and the evidence linking the attack on the Marines to the suspected Russian plot, but they did not detail those disputes.

Notably, the National Security Agency, which specializes in hacking and electronic surveillance, has been more skeptical about interrogations and other human intelligence, officials said.

Which doesn't negate the fact that they gave Trump the information and he lied about it when confronted.

David Priess, a former C.I.A. daily intelligence briefer and the author of “The President’s Book of Secrets: The Untold Story of Intelligence Briefings to America’s Presidents,” said: “Many intelligence judgments in history have not had the consensus of every analyst who worked on it. That’s the nature of intelligence. It’s inherently dealing with uncertainty.”

[...]

Mr. Priess said previous presidents received assessments on issues of potentially vital importance even if they had dissents from some analysts or agencies.

Of course they did. And this president did, too.

Mr. Trump is said to often neglect reading that document, preferring instead to receive an oral briefing summarizing highlights every few days. Even in those face-to-face meetings, he is particularly difficult to brief on national security matters. He often relies instead on conservative media and friends for information, current and former intelligence officials have said.

And he has ony been focused on his reelection efforts and need to have rallies.

American intelligence officers and Special Operations forces in Afghanistan began raising alarms as early as January, and the National Security Council convened an interagency meeting to discuss the problem and what to do about it in late March, The New York Times has previously reported. But despite being presented with options, including a diplomatic protest and sanctions, the White House authorized no response.

The administration’s explanations on Monday, in public and in private, appeared to be an attempt to placate lawmakers, particularly Mr. Trump’s fellow Republicans, alarmed by news reports in recent days revealing the existence of the intelligence assessment and Mr. Trump’s insistence he had not been warned of the suspected Russian plot.

[...]

“This is a time to focus on the two things Congress should be asking and looking at: No. 1, who knew what, when, and did the commander in chief know? And if not, how the hell not?” said Senator Ben Sasse, Republican of Nebraska and a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee.

He knew, Ben. And you know he knew. It's going to be a shame when someone in the intel agencies loses his or her job to cover the president's very large ass.

The Taliban have denied involvement. And a spokesman for President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, Dmitry Peskov, told NBC News on Monday that reports of the Russian scheme were incorrect. He said that “none of the American representatives have ever raised this question” with their Russian counterparts through government or diplomatic channels.

Of course not. That's the point.




...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Can Trump appear any more guilty?

Will Republicans be warned to toe the line and repeat the lie that Pence and Trump weren't notified of the Russian bribe of the Taliban to target American soldiers in Afghanistan?  Or will they be trotting out a new defense?

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE:

Amen.

Bullshit

It's Ratcliffe, FFS.  He's lying.

It worked for Reagan.  That, and "I forgot."

It's here.

And what?  They didn't tell Pence either?  Bullshit.  He was briefed.  he didn't want to do anything about it.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE:

And by "intel" does he mean Ratcliffe?

He has people trained.  They tell him what he wans to hear.

UPDATE:

Amen.

Unbelievable

Literally, unbelievable.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE:

His priorities:

UPDATE:

But one American official had told The Times that the intelligence finding that the Russians had offered and paid bounties to Afghan militants and criminals had been briefed at the highest levels of the White House.

Another said it was included in the President’s Daily Brief, a written document which draws from spywork to make analytic predictions about longstanding adversaries, unfolding plots and emerging crises around the world. The briefing document is given to the president to read and they serve as the basis for oral briefings to him several times a week.

[...]

American officials reached on Saturday said it strained credulity to think that White House national-security officials would be discussing such an important matter for months and even brief British officials about it and never provide the information to Mr. Trump.

  NYT

Of course he was told. It is simply inconceivable that he wasn't.

UPDATE:

UPDATE:

Amen.

What???

American intelligence officials have concluded that a Russian military intelligence unit secretly offered bounties to Taliban-linked militants for killing coalition forces in Afghanistan — including targeting American troops — amid the peace talks to end the long-running war there, according to officials briefed on the matter.

The United States concluded months ago that the Russian unit, which has been linked to assassination attempts and other covert operations in Europe intended to destabilize the West or take revenge on turncoats, had covertly offered rewards for successful attacks last year.

[...]

The intelligence finding was briefed to President Trump, and the White House’s National Security Council discussed the problem at an interagency meeting in late March, the officials said. Officials developed a menu of potential options — starting with making a diplomatic complaint to Moscow and a demand that it stop, along with an escalating series of sanctions and other possible responses, but the White House has yet to authorize any step, the officials said.

  NYT

Breathtaking.

The Kremlin had not been made aware of the accusations, said Dmitry Peskov, the press secretary for President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia. “If someone makes them, we’ll respond,” Mr. Peskov said.

[...]

“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,” [Zabihullah Mujahid, a spokesman for the Taliban,] said. “That changed after our deal with the Americans, and their lives are secure and we don’t attack them.”

[...]

The officials briefed on the matter said the government had assessed the operation to be the handiwork of Unit 29155, an arm of Russia’s military intelligence agency, known widely as the G.R.U. The unit is linked to the March 2018 nerve agent poisoning in Salisbury, England, of Sergei Skripal, a former G.R.U. officer who had worked for British intelligence and then defected, and his daughter.

Western intelligence officials say the unit, which has operated for more than a decade, has been charged by the Kremlin with carrying out a campaign to destabilize the West through subversion, sabotage and assassination.

[...]

American intelligence officials say the G.R.U. was at the center of Moscow’s covert efforts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election.

[...]

The disclosure comes at a time when Mr. Trump has said he would invite Mr. Putin to an expanded meeting of the Group of 7 nations, but tensions between American and Russian militaries are running high.

In several recent episodes, in international territory and airspace from off the coast of Alaska to the Black and Mediterranean Seas, combat planes from each country have scrambled to intercept military aircraft from the other.

[...]

The revelations came into focus inside the Trump administration at a delicate and distracted time. Although officials collected the intelligence earlier in the year, the interagency meeting at the White House took place as the coronavirus pandemic was becoming a crisis and parts of the country were shutting down.

Moreover, as Mr. Trump seeks re-election in November, he wants to strike a peace deal with the Taliban to end the Afghanistan war.

How much credit did he think Americans will give him in November for that eventuality? Whatever it was, it's wiped out with this revelation.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE:

UPDATE:

UPDATE:

Literally, unbelievable.