Shot…
The AP issued a fact check on President Trump’s claim that he is “being tougher on Russia than Obama”:
An #APFactCheck takes a look at Trump's claim of being tougher on Russia than Obama was. https://t.co/F6Yqw0a0BH
— AP Fact Check (@APFactCheck) February 21, 2018
Their conclusion? The evidence of Trump’s claim is “scant at best”:
President Donald Trump says he’s been “much tougher” on Russia than his predecessor — but his evidence remains scant at best.
During the 2016 campaign, President Barack Obama called out Russia for political interference when much less was known about it and followed up after the election by expelling 35 Russian diplomats suspected of being intelligence officers. Obama also seized two Russian “dachas” or country estates, in Maryland and New York, that the State Department said were used for intelligence activities.
In contrast, the Trump administration, despite now-pervasive evidence of Russian interference, has held out the threat of sanctions, but not acted on it, while the president has equivocated since the 2016 campaign on whether he believes Moscow meddled at all.
Chaser…
Now for the weird part. The AP left out of its fact check that U.S. military is literally killing Russians in Syria:
The Latest: Russian media: U.S. strike kills Russians in Syria. https://t.co/KybU3NqU69
— The Associated Press (@AP) February 13, 2018
According to reports, up to 300 Russians were either killed or wounded in the U.S. airstrikes:
Three Hundred Dead and Wounded Russians Are a Reminder of US Airpower in Syria https://t.co/tfawXnomvO
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) February 13, 2018
And in a follow-up piece, the AP reported on how the dead Russians would “further strain Russia-U.S. ties”:
Recommended
The Latest: The Russian Foreign Ministry says 5 Russians killed in a U.S. strike in Syria, the first official recognition of Russian deaths in the incident that has threatened to further strain Russia-U.S. ties. https://t.co/ReKU9qSY5G
— The Associated Press (@AP) February 15, 2018
So, there’s obviously more going on between the U.S. and Russian than sanctions and as Sarah Sanders alluded to at the briefing yesterday, she’s not at liberty — yet — to share everything with the American people:
Sanders said there was some type of incident involving Russia that will become public soon: “just last week there was an incident that will be reported in the coming days, in another way that this president was tough on Russia.” I asked, but a WH official won’t say what this was. pic.twitter.com/E0jQ2Pxmaz
— Eamon Javers (@EamonJavers) February 20, 2018
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Related:
No big deal, just the potential start of WWIII between Russia and the U.S. in Syria (corrected) https://t.co/Qx1B7WHVvX
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) February 13, 2018
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