This is a fine kettle of fish we’re in, when a group of the world’s most heinous, murdering thugs are admitting the truth about the Russian bounties, while the White House lies through their teeth to us. Bookmark this story, because it is a new low in American history — and just another day in Trump world. Business Insider is reporting that it spoke with three sources, two active in the Taliban and one a refugee in Greece, who used to be Taliban. All three sources confirmed the New York Times bombshell of last Friday, which Donald Trump is calling a “hoax.”
Taliban commanders have confirmed that Russia has offered financial and material support to its members in exchange for attacking US forces in Afghanistan. […]
President Donald Trump has since strongly denied that he was told of this intelligence and attacked its credibility, characterizing the existence of Russian bounty payments as fake.
But three separate Taliban sources told Insider they were aware of Russian bounty payments being made — though they said only the less-disciplined elements on the fringes of the group would take up such an offer.
The Greek refugee said, “The Taliban is like my fist — the center of the fist is hard and disciplined; everyone gets salaries and weapons from the Quetta Shura and they obey orders.” Quetta Shurra is the Taliban leadership council, thought to be based in Pakistan.
“But around this fist there are a lot of groups and commanders that are with the Taliban but not controlled by the Taliban,” he added. “These are the people who will do anything for money, and Russia, Iran, Pakistan, and other countries will hire them for operations.”
Mercenaries are nothing new under the sun. And mercenaries paid by Russia are absolutely nothing new.
Moulani Baghdadi, a current Taliban commander from Ghazni province, provided Insider a statement via a family member.
He said Russian influence inside the Taliban itself was impossible but that there were many affiliated groups that have maintained ties with Russia.
“In the last five years the Islamic Emirate has greatly expanded in Kunduz and Mazar because individual commanders have been receiving money and weapons from Russian intelligence,” he said. “These are criminal groups that work alongside the Mujahideen and give us a bad reputation with many people because they sell drugs and commit crimes and work with [foreigners].”
But Donald Trump would have you believe that Vladimir Putin not only did not interfere in the 2016 election, against all information to the contrary from the American intelligence community, he would have you believe that Russia is not paying bounty hunters, either — or if they are, he doesn’t know a thing about it. And now you have it from the horse’s mouth. And Kayleigh McEnany would have you believe that the New York Times bombshell is all unverified innuendo. Maybe she’ll consider this verification.
And then there’s the Director of National Intelligence, John Ratcliffe, a good little Trump toady, plus the former acting Director of National Intelligence, the National Security Advisor, the Secretary of State, and the Secretary of Defense, who have all offered denials of varying degrees, as to whether Trump was briefed, or whether the bounties happened at all. And supposedly Gina Haspel, the CIA Director, is part of this group as well.
It will be interesting to see where this story goes from here. At this point it looks like the entire world knows about this, except for Donald Trump. And everybody takes this seriously, except for Trump, who calls it a “hoax.”
The Russia Bounty story is just another made up by Fake News tale that is told only to damage me and the Republican Party. The secret source probably does not even exist, just like the story itself. If the discredited @nytimes has a source, reveal it. Just another HOAX!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 1, 2020
The Moron in Chief strikes again.
Damn ursula!!
It’s no hoax. That’s for sure. And Bolton briefed Trump on this in 2019. So this denial crap is just that, crap. But you know what scares me? Not Trump. Trump’s a moron. It’s all the people around him who lie. They’re mercenaries, too. They’ll do anything for money.
It’s likely that many of them already have done anything for laundered money (aka Rubles) and that is why they continue to cover for him.
A hoax usually meant something lighthearted and humorous. I miss those days.
This is the US intelligence community dropping a nuke on Trump’s presidency. All they’ve been waiting for is the right moment (no doubt using Comey’s disastrous letter about Hillary as a model) and that moment has arrived. Something else to watch: an even more devastating bombshell from this group should Trump still be around just before Election Day. This bunch don’t play and have every incentive to finish the job.
I hope ur right & I also believe the bill is coming due.
Hope gets a lot easier when you can discern a pattern, Scott. Worth remembering: no dictatorship has ever succeeded without the majority backing in military and intelligence circles. Given how badly both have been treated by Trump, well…the math solves itself.
I am not sure I am happy with the intelligence community waiting more than year to leak and thus leaving our military at this risk.
There is nothing about the entire situation to be happy about, Dana. Cold calculations went into these moves, chief among the timing for maximum impact. By necessity, that means people pay the price. That’s the mentality that goes into military and intelligence work and why I have never been either.
My point is that if the theory that the intelligence community waited over a year ion order to do maximum damage to Trump is correct, it makes criticizing Trump for doing nothing for over a year hypocritical.
Trump’s “nothing” was far worse than nothing. He continued to grovel to and carry water for Putin. He tried to edge Putin into the G7 despite the fact that Russia was paying for hits on all those countries’ soldiers And now he’s calling it a “hoax” instead of something to be gotten to the bottom of. All of that is far worse than not coming out with it a year ago. I see in that demand the wild swings many on the left were taking at Democrats for not immediately moving to impeach Trump at the first sign of his obstruction of justice, no matter how unprepared they were. So they were prepared, the Senate wiped it out, and it’s virtually forgotten. I think these intelligence officials knew exactly what they were doing.
Good point, Dana!
Bareshark, I want to believe the Intelligence community are mostly Patriots (excluding Barr and Pompeo, of course). I really thought Gina Haspel was a straight shooter too. Sorry to hear that she’s not being truthful either!
As a vet, I’ve let my senators (both gop toadies) know in the strongest language short of a sit down with the FBI, that they are traitors, & enemies of the country & constitution. I suggest constant pressure, especially those up for re-election. We are at war for our country & future.its that simple. This is how empires fall…right John Prine? Yep
Agreed, Scott!
I think the stable genius should be looking into a mirror every time he calls all the patriots who came forward and testified “traitors.” And, since he has no conviction and is a complete lying coward we’ll never hear him say, “You want TRUTH?? YOU WANT THE TRUTH??!! YOU CAN’t HANDLE THE TRUTH!!”
To which, if it ever happened, I truly do have to reply, I really don’t know if I can handle much more.
5 months and change, can we survive?
7 months…seems a small difference, but he can start a war in those last months, something to galvanize the troops & provide cover for a power grab. Who’s prepared to stop him?
Wrong question, Scott. The correct one: “Who’s prepared to believe him?” He already tried starting a war, you’ll recall, and it fizzled like every other scheme he’s attempted. PLEASE quit assuming we are dealing with the marginally more competent W administration here. Those kind of folks have long since fled this burning building.
True. I doubt he wipes his own arse. It’s not him, but the equally traitorous toadies around him that justify everything he does, all of whom know better. I still believe the American people are ready to show we’re done with these hypocrites & grifters.
Scott, they’re dumber than HE is (which is saying something)! They not only lack the skills to turn this around but the more aware are grabbing the loot with one hand and their lawyers with the other.
Good point Scott – if he didn’t need someone to show him where it was, he’d probably end up wiping his foot – oh wait : he already did that
Starting a war would probably increase Biden’s margin of victory drastically. I have said this so often I’m almost tired of writing it: to turn a dramatic event such as a war to your electoral or personal benefit, you need a stable team of deeply knowledgable experts, absolutely unswerving massage discipline and clearly articulated and undeviating goals. Trump is capable of none of that. A war would bow up in his face in a matter of days.
Yes, Gus, we absolutely can. Three and a half years was much tougher.
Well, Bareshark, I take solace in your wisdom and conviction. But I am worried as his actions are getting more and more treacherous and crazy as if to match and outdo the hyperbolic curve of the corona infections – they are both at the cusp of losing control. If what we are privy to is a mere spoonful of that craziness, what the heck else is he doing (or not doing)? And where are the “guardrails?”
They say the “genius” is a businessman, and with him, everything is about “transactions.” I shudder to think what the lives of our brave men and women returned the “genius.” I truly hope there wasn’t any return and just him being too much of a coward to confront Vlad.
Either way it sickens me to my stomach.
Worrying about what MIGHT happen is waste of energy, Gus. For now, we deal with what we’ve got in front of us. Take comfort in knowing that the number of people willing to carry out his deranged wishes are dwindling to zero.
The more and the deeper you dig the uglier this gets. I’m not sure we’re even close to reaching the bottom yet. Either not knowing history, or inconveniently or carelessly forgetting it has some role to play in how we’ve landed here too. Putin wasn’t merely a KGB operative, he was later the director of the Federal Security Service (Russia’s FSB, and the newer iteration of the KGB); and he is by training and education a lawyer. This is no dumb rube with charisma; this is a deadly killer and he knows exactly what he is doing when he plays Trump like a cheap fiddle. I agree with several folks down this thread: we have a long time to go yet; almost seven months until we are freed of the monster puppet in the White House and a lot can happen between now and then. And only then, in late January, can all of us start the business of repairing the damage and making us a far more perfect union than heretofore we have been.
You meant Traitor-in-Chief, right? Because he’s gone well beyond being a moron. For him to dismiss this as a “hoax” not worth considering or investigating is so shocking, there’s no way anyone can continue to support him and call themselves a “patriot.”
Before it’s too late, 25 45, now!