Trump clings to Daddy Vlad. Is he being led astray?
PUBLISHED TO
Donald Trump was given a direct one-on-one briefing on how Russia is funding Taliban militants in Afghanistan over a year ago. He received a direct daily brief on how Russia was offering bounties for the murder of American troops over five months ago. Since that date, Trump has spoken to Vladimir Putin at least eight times.
That includes a call made last week, well after the public became aware
that Russia has both offered, and paid out, for the murder of U.S.
forces.
But in all the times he’s talked with Putin, Trump hasn’t seen fit to discuss how Russia is paying for American deaths, and for the Taliban to keep Afghanistan in turmoil so that the United States can’t withdraw its remaining forces. And in a Tuesday interview with Axios, Trump left absolutely no doubt, “I have never discussed it with him.”
White House officials are still claiming that Trump hasn’t been briefed on the Russian bounty story because the NSA disagreed with the CIA over the strength of the evidence. However, the strength of the evidence appears to be overwhelming.
Not only has the United States received reports that Russia was offering Taliban militants a bounty for the murder of U.S. and allied forces, there is also direct evidence that these bounties have been paid. That includes a raid on individuals in Afghanistan who were involved in moving funds between the Kremlin and the Taliban.
Worse, the whole argument from Trump and the White House seems to be hanging on the tiniest of semantic loopholes. While White House officials claim that Trump was never briefed over the bounty program because the NSA had concerns about the evidence, it’s absolutely clear that Trump was briefed that Russia was sending funds to the Taliban. Trump has been briefed on how Russia has worked to keep the United States entangled in Afghanistan since 2017. Trump has known about Russian efforts to cost America both lives and dollars by extending that war for almost his entire term in office.
But in all the times he’s talked with Putin, Trump hasn’t seen fit to discuss how Russia is paying for American deaths, and for the Taliban to keep Afghanistan in turmoil so that the United States can’t withdraw its remaining forces. And in a Tuesday interview with Axios, Trump left absolutely no doubt, “I have never discussed it with him.”
White House officials are still claiming that Trump hasn’t been briefed on the Russian bounty story because the NSA disagreed with the CIA over the strength of the evidence. However, the strength of the evidence appears to be overwhelming.
Not only has the United States received reports that Russia was offering Taliban militants a bounty for the murder of U.S. and allied forces, there is also direct evidence that these bounties have been paid. That includes a raid on individuals in Afghanistan who were involved in moving funds between the Kremlin and the Taliban.
Worse, the whole argument from Trump and the White House seems to be hanging on the tiniest of semantic loopholes. While White House officials claim that Trump was never briefed over the bounty program because the NSA had concerns about the evidence, it’s absolutely clear that Trump was briefed that Russia was sending funds to the Taliban. Trump has been briefed on how Russia has worked to keep the United States entangled in Afghanistan since 2017. Trump has known about Russian efforts to cost America both lives and dollars by extending that war for almost his entire term in office.
But he’s done nothing. Worse than nothing. Trump has not only repeatedly attempted to reward Russia through actions like trying to force the G7 to readmit Russia and inviting Putin to take part as a guest, he has directly provided intelligence to Russia on U.S. actions regarding the Taliban. That’s despite knowing that the Taliban and Russia were on the same team.
That leaves Trump and the White House just clutching at the word “bounty.” Sure, they were aware that Russia was supporting a terrorist organization working to destabilize Afghanistan, and that Russia was providing funding to this organization even as it was carrying out attacks on American forces, allied forces, and civilians. The idea that no one said “bounty” to Trump is the only thing they’re clutching … and based on past reporting even that is not true.
What does seem to be absolutely true is that, despite every briefing he’s been given, Trump has done nothing about Russia’s continuing efforts to conduct a proxy war in Afghanistan and keep American forces involved in a conflict that has been costly in every sense. One thing is absolutely certain: Trump knew about the program when he conducted his last series of calls with Putin, because by then the evidence of the Russian bounty program was available to the public. And still he didn’t even bother to bring it up.
Of the call to Putin conducted just last Thursday, Trump said, “We don't talk about what we discussed, but we had plenty of discussion.” Asked again why he did not bring up Russia’s interference in Afghanistan, Trump continued, “That was a phone call to discuss other things, and frankly that’s an issue that many people said was fake news.”
Trump did not apparently tell anyone what the “other things” about which they had “plenty of discussion” might be. But he was definitive that he has never, in three years and dozens of conversations, confronted Vladimir Putin over the sure knowledge that Russia is funding terrorists who are killing Americans and destabilizing a region. It might be nice to know what Trump considers more important.
Good boy, Donald. Now roll over and play dead while I go pay some Taliban warriors to kill American solidiers.
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