Trump knew. Everyone in the White House knows he knew. But the company line is to protect the president, so everyone in the White House is lying. It’s kind of the White House’s thing.
According to CNBC, President Donald Trump and everyone in the White House that is privy to this kind of information knew that Russian bounties were being offered to Afghan militants to kill American troops.
The New York Times reported Monday night that the president knew about the matter in February. For those not up on their months, that would be the month after January, which is right at the beginning of the year, which means that the president and his lying-ass band of thieves knew that Russian money was being offered to kill American soldiers damn near all year.
John Bolton—you know, the guy who was once the national security adviser before giving up that career to become an IG thottie with his tell-all memoir—claims that he briefed Trump about it again in March—of 2019!—the Associated Press reports.
Trump and the White House have denied that the president knew anything because they are liars...all of them. How the fuck did the president not know and why isn’t the White House overcome with anger that Russia was offering money to kill U.S. soldiers? In the White House edition of The Apprentice that loves to fire people, why haven’t any heads rolled? They are acting as if no one told the president that the tuna salad sandwich in the White House fridge had gone bad. Everyone inside the White House is just acting as if this is all a big mistake.
“Because the allegations in recent press articles have not been verified or substantiated by the Intelligence Community, President Trump had not been briefed on the items,” said national security adviser Robert O’Brien in a statement Monday night, CNBC reports. “Nevertheless, the Administration, including the National Security Council staff, have been preparing should the situation warrant action.”
Chief Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman said in a statement, “The Department of Defense continues to evaluate intelligence that Russian GRU operatives were engaged in malign activity against United States and coalition forces in Afghanistan.
“To date, DOD has no corroborating evidence to validate the recent allegations found in open-source reports,” he said. “Regardless, we always take the safety and security of our forces in Afghanistan—and around the world—most seriously and therefore continuously adopt measures to prevent harm from potential threats.”
Now, many outside the White House are wondering if an April 2019 car bombing in Afghanistan that killed three Marines was somehow connected to the Russian bounty.
From CNBC:
Felicia Arculeo, whose son Cpl. Robert Hendriks, 25, died in the attack, told CNBC earlier Monday that she wanted an investigation into the claims that the victims were targeted by Taliban fighters who may have been offered bounties by Russian military intelligence agents.
Sgt. Benjamin Hines, 31, and Staff Sgt. Christopher Slutman, 43, were the other Marines killed in the attack, which came days before they were due to return home from Afghanistan.
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnanyOfTheState said during a press briefing Monday that the president wasn’t briefed because no one found the threat credible. When pressed she offered: “He was not personally briefed on the matter. That is all I can share with you today, is that both the CIA director, the national security advisor, and the chief of staff can all confirm neither the president or the vice president was briefed.”
But they stay lying, all of them.