Donald Trump has known since March 2019, almost a year earlier than previously thought, that Russia offered secret bounties to Taliban-linked militants if they killed American troops in Afghanistan, but has taken no action in retaliation.
The AP reports: “Top officials in the White House were aware in early 2019 of classified intelligence indicating Russia was secretly offering bounties to the Taliban for the deaths of Americans, a full year earlier than has been previously reported, according to U.S. officials with direct knowledge of the intelligence.”
Both former national security advisor John Bolton and intelligence officials briefed Trump on the bounties.
MSNBC's Rachel Maddow hammered Trump on Friday night: “This is kind of sickening news. … Vladimir Putin is offering bounties for the scalps of American soldiers in Afghanistan. Not only offering, but some of the bounties that have been offered have been collected.”
“Not only does the president know … there was that unexpected and friendly conversation he had with Putin. According to the Kremlin what they discussed on that call was how much Russia would like to be allowed back into the G7. President Trump then got off that call with Putin and immediately began calling for Russia to be allowed back into the G7. … That's how Trump is standing up for Americans being killed for rubles paid by Putin's government.”
