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U.S. Intel walks back claim about Russia paying bounties for death of American soldiers
hot air ^ | Apr 15, 2021 | JOHN SEXTON

Posted on 04/15/2021 1:30:27 PM PDT by Mount Athos

This isn’t the first time serious doubts have been raised about the story. Last September, the commander of U.S. Central Command, Gen. Frank McKenzie, told NBC News, “It just has not been proved to a level of certainty that satisfies me.” He added, “I want to know, because I won’t hesitate to take action if that’s the case. I just haven’t seen it.”

But despite the Trump administration’s denials (Trump called it a hoax), Democrats and the media jumped on this with both feet. MSNBC’s Maddowblog published a piece headlined “On Russian bounties, what did Trump know and when did he know it?”

Naturally, this story was catnip for Rachel Maddow who spent years flogging the Russia story. She did a 7-minute segment on it when it broke in which she tried to make White House inaction very personal. “There are 20 American families grieving right now because their American soldier, their dad or mom or son or daughter or brother or sister, was killed in combat in Afghanistan last year,” Maddow said. She continued, “Imagine you’re a member of one of those families and you have just found out that Russia may have paid for the death of your loved one, cash money paid as a reward for killing an American soldier…And now you know…that not only does the president know that Russia was paying for Americans soldiers’ deaths, paying rewards for Americans dead. The president knows it. He’s been told. And what he’s done with that information since he was briefed on it in March is…” Maddow then referenced what she described as a “friendly conversation” with Putin.

A few days later Maddow had Susan Rice on the show to comment. “The President of the United States presumably has had access to this information for months and has done absolutely nothing about it,” Rice said. A couple days after that Maddow brought Rep. Adam Schiff on the show to discuss it further. “Americans reading this are outraged about what Russia may be doing but one person who isn’t outraged is Donald Trump and his reaction is ‘this is a hoax,'” Schiff said.

Nancy Pelosi took it a step further by suggesting Trump must be compromised: “I don’t know what the Russians have on the president politically, personally, financially or whatever it is.” Candidate Joe Biden called it “a betrayal of the most sacred duty we bear as a nation, protect and equip our troops when we send them into harm’s way.”

Here’s that ABC report highlighting the Democratic outrage. Don’t hold your breath waiting for any of these folks to apologize. Below that is a similar report from CBS which notes that while the CIA was convinced this was true, the NSA was not.


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Government; News/Current Events; Russia
KEYWORDS:

1 posted on 04/15/2021 1:30:27 PM PDT by Mount Athos
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To: Mount Athos

A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.


2 posted on 04/15/2021 1:45:09 PM PDT by McGruff
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To: McGruff

Why do the neocons have such a “hard-on” for the russians. Are they still upset about the pograms under the czar? Russia is not the soviet union, they are not communists. I wish we would quit treating them like the enemy. It’s ironic that the once atheistic communist russians are now the defenders of western christian civilization.


3 posted on 04/15/2021 1:48:40 PM PDT by ozarker
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*


4 posted on 04/15/2021 1:49:18 PM PDT by PMAS (Vote with your wallets, there are 80 million of us - No Amazon, No Chy-Na made )
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To: Mount Athos

Corrupt Media. Really need to do something about them.


5 posted on 04/15/2021 1:51:53 PM PDT by 1Old Pro
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To: Mount Athos

Heck, it’s just a lie someone made up in an effort to meddle in our election. No big deal, I suppose.


6 posted on 04/15/2021 1:56:36 PM PDT by ClearCase_guy ("I see you did something -- why you so racist?")
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To: Mount Athos
Nothing from the US government is reliable. Everything has a political squint. We will not find republican redemption, free government through the electoral process.
7 posted on 04/15/2021 2:00:08 PM PDT by Jacquerie (ArticleVBlog.com)
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To: Mount Athos

Liz Cheney started her diva rants about trump with this little stunt last summer about this phony Intel...I don’t she’ll apologize to Donald but Donad should sent her this article along with a picture of his middle finger


8 posted on 04/15/2021 2:10:11 PM PDT by Lod881019
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To: 1Old Pro

This article doesn’t help. It lacks specificity. Who in the CIA? Who in the intelligence community? Why now? Why wasn’t this reported five months ago? etc.


9 posted on 04/15/2021 2:14:38 PM PDT by Bookshelf
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To: Mount Athos

Because it was a lie to hurt Trump.


10 posted on 04/15/2021 2:30:14 PM PDT by Jewbacca (The residents of Iroquois territory may not determine whether Jews may live in Jerusalem)
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To: Mount Athos

In the ‘80s, we had the truth on our side and ended communism in the old Soviet Union. Now, the Russians are the ones with the truth on their side. How pathetic is that?


11 posted on 04/15/2021 2:32:04 PM PDT by Kazan
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To: ozarker

They have a hard-on for Trump way more that the ruskies! This fake story should have been a harbinger or whatever for Trump! If he pursued this and learned who in the Deep State was pushing it, IMO it would have led him to some key people who he could have fired immediately! Things may have turned out differently!


12 posted on 04/15/2021 2:37:09 PM PDT by gr8eman (Elder Non-Binary Sibling is Watching You!)
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To: Bookshelf

It was posted here on FR.

https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3861647/posts

https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3860827/posts


13 posted on 04/15/2021 2:42:30 PM PDT by mad_as_he$$
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To: ozarker

Russia doesn’t have the liberal opinion of homosexuality that the Left demands.


14 posted on 04/15/2021 2:45:10 PM PDT by Bratch (The only way men or women can be judged is against the canvas of their own time. - Louis L'Amour)
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To: ozarker

Russia is sometimes the villain in movies too. White, non-communist, Christian...


15 posted on 04/15/2021 3:13:46 PM PDT by PghBaldy (12/14 - 930am -rampage begins... 12/15 - 1030am - Obama's advance team scouts photo-op locations.)
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To: Mount Athos

But despite the Trump administration’s denials (Trump called it a hoax), Democrats and the media jumped on this with both feet.

*************************************************************

.....well, if the foregoing is what the Democrats and media think we all now know what to think.....................easy peazy!!!!


16 posted on 04/15/2021 3:50:26 PM PDT by Cen-Tejas
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To: Mount Athos

Good thing I never believed it to begin with. Corrupt intel people causing problems for Trump. Still corrupt today.


17 posted on 04/15/2021 4:55:47 PM PDT by NWFree (Socialism is legalized plunder)
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To: Bratch

“Russia doesn’t have the liberal opinion of homosexuality that the Left demands.’

We have a winner.


18 posted on 04/15/2021 6:27:13 PM PDT by Luke21
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