Zerohedge
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White House was never briefed on purely “anonymous sourced” story, contrary to Times’ assertions…
Donald J. Trump on Twitter: “Nobody briefed or told me, @VP Pence, or Chief of Staff @MarkMeadows about the so-called attacks on our troops in Afghanistan by Russians, as reported through an “anonymous source” by the Fake News @nytimes. Everybody is denying it & there have not been many attacks on us….. / Twitter”
Nobody briefed or told me, @VP Pence, or Chief of Staff @MarkMeadows about the so-called attacks on our troops in Afghanistan by Russians, as reported through an “anonymous source” by the Fake News @nytimes. Everybody is denying it & there have not been many attacks on us…..
Some are calling it a last ditch attempt to keep Russiagate alive ahead of November. The New York Times on Friday said Russian intelligence officers have been offering Taliban militants cash rewards to kill American and British soldiers.
In the past two days the claims by the usual anonymous US intelligence officials have crisscrossed the mainstream media, with more “confirmation” offered by… more anonymous intelligence officials.
Of course Russia promptly denied it, but more importantly the White House vehemently rejected the report as “fake news” with the president and his aides saying they’ve never seen such intelligence crossing the president’s desk.
White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany said Saturday in response to the Times story that neither Trump nor Vice President Mike Pence was ever briefed on such a brazen Russian intelligence plan to hand out bounties.
“This does not speak to the merit of the alleged intelligence but to the inaccuracy of The New York Times story erroneously suggesting that President Trump was briefed on this matter,” she said.
And Trump himself confirmed as much, tweeting Sunday morning:
Nobody briefed or told me, VP Pence, or Chief of Staff Mark Meadows about the so-called attacks on our troops in Afghanistan by Russians, as reported through an “anonymous source” by the Fake News NY Times.
And rounding things out the Taliban registered its denial as well, meaning that every major player in the NY Times story has now said the story is nonsense.
“We categorically reject the notion of ever planning or carrying out targeted attacks against US or foreign forces at the behest of foreign intelligence or for the sake of collecting bounty, and we also reject receiving material support,” a Taliban statement said.
Recall that the initial NYT report suggested the White House had indeed been briefed. Again it’s unthinkable that an alleged Russian operation this explosive could be hidden from the commander-in-chief or top executive branch intel officials or National Security Council staff. The Times also assumes this when it said:
The officials familiar with the intelligence did not explain the White House delay in deciding how to respond to the intelligence about Russia.
While some of his closest advisers, like Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, have counseled more hawkish policies toward Russia, Mr. Trump has adopted an accommodating stance toward Moscow.
And then there’s this line, casting further doubt on the whole thing: “The intelligence assessment is said to be based at least in part on interrogations of captured Afghan militants and criminals.”
So we are left with anonymous officials casting a dubious tale of Russian targeting Americans in Afghanistan based on “interrogations” – likely involving torture or perhaps “enhanced” techniques – of militants and criminals.
Aaron Maté on Twitter: “Maddow spent 3+ years pushing ridiculous conspiracy theories about Putin controlling Trump and paranoid fantasies like Russia shutting off Americans’ heat during winter. Incredible that it continues with no shame: https://t.co/wTQCYds9a9 / Twitter”
Maddow spent 3+ years pushing ridiculous conspiracy theories about Putin controlling Trump and paranoid fantasies like Russia shutting off Americans’ heat during winter. Incredible that it continues with no shame: https://t.co/wTQCYds9a9
Entirely to be expected, this was enough for some to eat it up.
The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of this site. This site does not give financial, investment or medical advice.
Remember when Amb. Stevens was killed? That was because Hillary gave the “good rebels” (who immediately gave them to ISIS) a large stock of Stinger missiles. They shot down a US Chinook in Afganistan but the soldiers lived and got the serial from the Stinger….which was one that Hillary gave to the terrorists. Stevens was trying to negotiate the Stingers return. ISIS answer was to kill him. Moral of the story is Hillary, under Obama, gave the terrorists our most advanced weapons that were then used against US.
That is KKKillary KKKlinton and the Boomerang effect.Bang bang!
I thought he was busy arranging Clinton’s export of Libyan arms to Syria and the export of Libyan infernos to Syria as well but her ‘good rebels’ wanted them for their own.
I remember from a few years back when Russia started ‘talks’ with the Taliban and the MSM articles about ‘are they potentially supplying arms?’, that disappeared to nothingburgerness soon after. So, the dems dragged up one of those ‘intel people’ and added a few flourishes. Pretty typical of them. Meanwhile, current intel says the initial reports were not credible. Just more spiders in an intel jar, nothing more. Pick your spider. Anyone wonder why this came out soon after Bolton became a card carrying DNC tool? The dems are working on chipping away at Trump’s conservative base, using Bolton and… Read more »
The never-trumpers have an arsenal of nothingburgers to throw against the wall to see what sticks. You could set your watch by their predictability.
Boomerangs, nothingburgers and spiders in jars are the most highly prized export goods of the USA. MAGA – Make Amerikkka great again!
Scott Ritter’s article today on RT.com goes into the best detail deconstructing and unpacking this ‘story’.
It’s been buried a bit by now. Here’s the link: https://www.rt.com/op-ed/493174-nyt-report-russia-afghanistan/
MSM’s persistent habit of reporting ‘rumor as fact and fact as rumor’.
A comparative analysis of the progression of headlines in covering stories regarding Trump is absolute proof. This goes well beyond Trump.
What’s not to not like about American journalism’s slippery slide into Goebellian-style totalitarianism?
Typical villainy by Vlad.
Why is he bribing these rag heads with limp wristed Bounty bars?
Why cant he use real men’s confectionery, like Mars bars and Yorkie bars?
He’ll be throwing the incubator babies on to the floor next, you mark my words.
They’ve already accused him of doing that in Syria.
Makes no matter who denies it. MSNBC, CNN and the rest are presenting it as fact, with endless coverage. The NKVD and Gestapo never had as much mind control over its masses.