As Twitchy reported, the New York Times had yet another bombshell report that was certain to take down President Trump: Reportedly, he’d been aware that the Russians, through the Taliban, had placed a bounty on the heads of U.S. troops fighting in Afghanistan and was apparently cool with it, being Putin’s puppet and all. Of course, Speaker Nancy Pelosi ran with it:
The shocking reports about Russia’s bounty on American troops is as bad as it gets – and still, President Trump refuses to confront Putin. #ThisWeek pic.twitter.com/oeT0RgruOL
— Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) June 28, 2020
Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe, however, blew a bunch of holes in that story by releasing a statement confirming that neither the president nor vice president had been briefed on any such intelligence. CBS News’ Catherine Herridge cited an intelligence official saying the intelligence report reached “low levels” but lacked sufficient reporting to corroborate any links, let alone bring it to the president’s attention.
CBS News’ Mark Knoller reports that the story is still alive and congressional leaders will be briefed Thursday:
"It's still unverified," says McEnany of Russian bounty allegation. Says Pentagon has no evidence any American has been killed as a result of the alleged Russian bounties. Confirms "Gang of Eight" Congressional Leaders will be briefed on the bounty matter tomorrow.
— Mark Knoller (@markknoller) July 1, 2020
Now Herridge is reporting that National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien has told reporters that a “career intel officer” made the call not to brief the president, and he stands behind that call.
Recommended
NOW: NSA Robert O’Brien tells reporters “career intel officer” made call not to verbally brief @realDonaldTrump on alleged Russian bounty plot “the person who decided early on whether the president should be briefed on this in the Oval, in the Oval intelligence briefing was…
— Catherine Herridge (@CBS_Herridge) July 1, 2020
his career, a career senior servant, a CIA officer + she made that decision because she didn’t have the confidence in the intelligence that came up…She made that call + you know what she made the right call. And knowing the facts I know now, I stand behind that call.” @CBSNews
— Catherine Herridge (@CBS_Herridge) July 1, 2020
who ever leaked this should be hunted down and disciplined to the fullest extent.
— Nancy Pelosi is SATAN ?⭐️⭐️⭐️ (@drdrjojo) July 1, 2020
But then the Democrats would just accuse President Trump of trying to shut down whistleblowers.
The bigger question now is who leaked it? Will they be caught? Will they be prosecuted?
— JerryInFTL ⭐️⭐️⭐️~Text TRUMP to 88022 (@JPelusio) July 1, 2020
Prosecute the LEAKER!
— Mike (@DeplorableBugsy) July 1, 2020
Who leaked it!
— Karli Q ⭐️⭐️⭐️ (@KarluskaP) July 1, 2020
The Leaker, intel are all irrelevant. The propaganda damage has been done.. again.
— Dick Venti (@SchlagerBomb) July 1, 2020
Yep.
Bring on the “whistleblower”…
— Ashley (@MrsPatriot3) July 1, 2020
This is just a guess on who leaked it, but I bet it would be someone on the house intelligence committee.
— MicksElplix (@MicksElplix) July 1, 2020
It’s the drip drip of career intelligence people who don’t agree with current foreign policy decisions. This isn’t hard to figure out.
— USA (@marathonman2019) July 1, 2020
I don’t believe that “the Russians” ever offered “bounties”
— Brian Walker❌⭐️⭐️⭐️✝️ (@BrianDotWalker) July 1, 2020
I'm just going to say it since I know a lot of people are thinking it. The Taliban, most likely, didn't need payoffs to do what they did.
— Matt Did It By The Book (@totallymatt123) July 1, 2020
When you don't hear Nadler Schiff and Lieu squawking like magpies there must not be too much meat on the bones.
— Virgil Tracy Thunderbird 2 IR (@ThunderBird2_VT) July 1, 2020
If it is not verifiable, then intelligence isn't intelligence. It is just another rumor.
Another nonissue, issue brought you us by Trump haters.
— George (@remingtongeo) July 1, 2020
Can someone let @JoeNBC know before he has a heart attack
— J McLane (@alsoJMc) July 1, 2020
While we’re on the subject, can someone point out how the Obama/Biden team responded to reports Iran was offering bounties on American soldiers in 2010?
— Steve Adams (@SteveAdams54) July 1, 2020
We’ll see who runs to the cable news cameras tomorrow after the briefing; that should give us a good idea of how much trust to place in the Times’ original report.
Related:
'Could put American lives at risk': Sean Parnell goes after the leakers in the Russia-bounty story https://t.co/uzWnkZVULJ
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) June 29, 2020
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