Russian Bounty on U.S. military in Afghanistan.

[Whateverman]

So for all those of you blasting that this was just made up by "the failing" NYT I've got a big pile of crow over here for you. MM gets a double portion just because I like his face. I'll wait for you all to man up and admit your error.

I hope you have plenty of food and water nearby, because this is gonna take some time...

[Mountain Man]

Can you imagine if the decision of the "career person" to brief-or-not-to-brief the president was left up to someone like Strozk or Comey? And they decided not to brief him, and then scoot their information over to the New York Times? Setting Trump up for a fall? I wouldn't put it past some of these people.

It's interesting how this months-old alleged incident is only coming out now nearer election time.

An excellent observation. The most troubling aspect of this story is that seditious persons in the administration are still leaking classified information to the media.

[seanD]

So for all those of you blasting that this was just made up by "the failing" NYT I've got a big pile of crow over here for you. MM gets a double portion just because I like his face. I'll wait for you all to man up and admit your error.

Not necessarily the NYT, at least from my perspective. After all, it wasn't the press that made up WMDs in Iraq, though they definitely ran with it.

[Ronson]

So for all those of you blasting that this was just made up by "the failing" NYT I've got a big pile of crow over here for you. MM gets a double portion just because I like his face. I'll wait for you all to man up and admit your error.

I never said "made up". At any rate, the jury is still out.

[DivineOb]

The jury is still out.

What aspects are the jury still out about?

1) The intelligence exists.
2) It was in the PDB. Trump knew or should have known. If you're going to argue he was "only" grossly incompetent that's hardly a win.
3) Trump hasn't taken *any* action for 96 hours after this broke. But he did have time for 36 holes of golf. He wasn't even briefed (according to him) until at least Monday. Has he even been briefed yet (according to him)?

Treason in all but legal definition (and this possibly even meets that bar).

[Ronson]

What aspects are the jury still out about?

1) The intelligence exists.
2) It was in the PDB. Trump knew or should have known. If you're going to argue he was "only" grossly incompetent that's hardly a win.
3) Trump hasn't taken *any* action for 96 hours after this broke. But he did have time for 36 holes of golf. He wasn't even briefed (according to him) until at least Monday. Has he even been briefed yet (according to him)?

Treason in all but legal definition (and this possibly even meets that bar).

I thought this was about the NYT report.

1) It claimed Trump knew about it since March. That hasn't been proven.
2) It claimed the bounties were/are a REAL thing. That hasn't been proven.

[DivineOb]

I thought this was about the NYT report.

1) It claimed Trump knew about it since March. That hasn't been proven.

How long do you think it will take until we get hard evidence Trump was told? I'm not expecting it to take too long.

In any case your *best case scenario* is that Trump didn't know because he's grossly incompetent. What an argument in support of four more years!

2) It claimed the bounties were/are a REAL thing. That hasn't been proven.

Why did Ratfink and Grennell lie if this isn't a real thing?

[Mountain Man]

1) So the info *was* in the President's Daily Briefing
2) Presidents read the PDB. To claim otherwise is just a bold faced lie.
3) Once this broke Trump spent 2 days golfing rather than try to get to the bottom of it
4) We now have confirmation from a *named source* that this Intel exists
5) Chris Murphy also that this intel edxists
6) He is lying to say it's commonplace for Presidents to ignore the PDB. A bold faced lie.



More lies. The information in the PDB is the best vetted and/or most relevant intel for the President (duh).

So now that we have *confirmation* from both a Republican and Democrat that this is a real thing what is Trump going to do about it? Where is Trump's fury and righteous desire to retaliate?

And why did Ratfink and Grennell lie about the intel existing?



It has been nearly 96 hours and 36 holes of golf since this broke. What is Trump's response? When will he address the nation and indicate he has directed a round of punishing sanctions against his butt buddy Putin?

The lie is that the President was explicitly briefed on it. He wasn't. It wasn't part of the Presidential Daily Briefing, which is exactly what it says on the tin, a brief rundown of the most important information. The longer "book" referred to is not the PDB and contains additional information that may be of interest but is not considered critical, and we know from other named sources that the information lacked credibility.

So sorry, but the Times was wrong. Again. In short, this is another nothing burger feast.

[DivineOb]

We have identified monetary transfers believed to be bounty payments

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/30/u...elligence.html

Data on Financial Transfers Bolstered Suspicions That Russia Offered Bounties

Analysts have used other evidence to conclude that the transfers were likely part of an effort to offer payments to Taliban-linked militants to kill American and coalition troops in Afghanistan.

American officials intercepted electronic data showing large financial transfers from a bank account controlled by Russia’s military intelligence agency to a Taliban-linked account, which was among the evidence that supported their conclusion that Russia covertly offered bounties for killing U.S. and coalition troops in Afghanistan, according to three officials familiar with the intelligence.

Though the United States has accused Russia of providing general support to the Taliban before, analysts concluded from other intelligence that the transfers were most likely part of a bounty program that detainees described during interrogations. Investigators also identified by name numerous Afghans in a network linked to the suspected Russian operation, the officials said — including, two of them added, a man believed to have served as an intermediary for distributing some of the funds and who is now thought to be in Russia.

The window for you RWNJs to discover your patriotism is closing.

[Thoughtful Monk]

It appears the NSA dissent from the view that Russia paid bounties according to this article on MSN: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world...ce/ar-BB16a7hg.

[Mountain Man]

More info from an on the record source:

Rep. Chris Stewart said, “The truth is, is that we don’t know. Could Russia have done that? Absolutely. … Do we know they did that? We just don’t know yet. Which is why the president and other senior leadership haven’t acted or done anything on this yet. Because, once again, Chris, we just don’t know. We’re trying to find out for sure. But this is something that goes back a long time too. This isn’t something that just popped up in the last few weeks or the last few months. Some of this intel actually goes back for several years.”

He later added that the president was never orally briefed on the matter, no president ever reads all of their daily brief all of the time, and “Director Ratcliffe, the CIA, the president, the vice president, Robert O’Brien, the NSA, everyone around him has been very clear that they did not brief this to the president or the vice president.”

[...]

Stewart stated that he was okay with the president not being orally briefed because “it just didn’t reach the level of credibility. And by the way, here’s something that I think would back that up for you, Chris, that’s important to know, Nancy Pelosi had this presented to her as well, in much the same format. So did Adam Schiff. All of us did. It was in the general intelligence analysis that we were seeing on a daily or weekly basis. None of them picked it out and wanted to pursue it either. It was just one of many things that they were concerned about.”

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2...several-years/

[DivineOb]

More info from an on the record source:

Rep. Chris Stewart said, “The truth is, is that we don’t know. Could Russia have done that? Absolutely. … Do we know they did that? We just don’t know yet. Which is why the president and other senior leadership haven’t acted or done anything on this yet. Because, once again, Chris, we just don’t know. We’re trying to find out for sure. But this is something that goes back a long time too. This isn’t something that just popped up in the last few weeks or the last few months. Some of this intel actually goes back for several years.”

He later added that the president was never orally briefed on the matter, no president ever reads all of their daily brief all of the time, and “Director Ratcliffe, the CIA, the president, the vice president, Robert O’Brien, the NSA, everyone around him has been very clear that they did not brief this to the president or the vice president.”

[...]

Stewart stated that he was okay with the president not being orally briefed because “it just didn’t reach the level of credibility. And by the way, here’s something that I think would back that up for you, Chris, that’s important to know, Nancy Pelosi had this presented to her as well, in much the same format. So did Adam Schiff. All of us did. It was in the general intelligence analysis that we were seeing on a daily or weekly basis. None of them picked it out and wanted to pursue it either. It was just one of many things that they were concerned about.”

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2...several-years/

And he's just lying.

All presidents read their PDB. Trump is the only exception.
Intelligence in the PDB has been vetted. To act like something in there wasn't important is a lie.
Why did Ratfink and Grenell lie?
Why did Trump not demand a briefing immediately? Has he even been briefed yet?
Why has Trump still not addressed the nation on this issue? To let this simmer 4 months out from the election is electoral malpractice.

ETA:
He said this "It was in the general intelligence analysis that we were seeing on a daily or weekly basis." Why did Ratfink and Grennell lie about this intelligence existing?

[Mountain Man]

And he's just lying.

Right, that's the only possible explanation.

Or it could be that you're a gullible moron who has fallen for another liberal media hoax that has so far been refuted by every on the record source who has cared to comment, including several congressmen, the former acting DNI, and the President himself.

[DivineOb]

Right, that's the only possible explanation.

Or it could be that you're a gullible moron who has fallen for another liberal media hoax that has so far been refuted by every on the record source who has cared to comment, including several congressmen, the former acting DNI, and the President himself.

Grennell and Ratfink both deny that there was *any* intelligence about the bounties. Christ Stewart claims that not only did the intelligence exist but it was both included in the PDB and reported to other congresspeople. So, no, all those people can't be telling the truth.

Presidents read their PDB which contains vetted and relevant intelligence. It isn't full of random trash.

You're just spinning more tall tales since it's the only thing that gets you off these days. Enjoy yourself.

trump treason.jpg

[Mountain Man]

Grennell and Ratfink both deny that there was *any* intelligence about the bounties.

False. I have no idea who "ratfink" is referring to, but Grennel did not say that there was no intelligence, only that he had never heard of this particular scenario. It has also been reported by multiple named sources on the record, including an official statement from the National Security Agency, that these claims remain unsubstantiated. Further, it has been confirmed by multiple named sources that the President was never briefed on it.

If anybody is spinning it's you. I'm just quoting what named sources are saying on the record, to which you respond,

"But- but they must be lying! "

Give it up, man,