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Liz Cheney Was A Primary Culprit Of Spreading Fake News On Russian Bounties To Undermine Trump
The Federalist ^ | April 16, 2021 | Tristan Justice

Posted on 04/16/2021 7:03:45 AM PDT by Kaslin

As the story of Russian bounties on U.S. troops gained traction in the press, Liz Cheney seized the opportunity to undermine her own party


U.S. intelligence agencies debunked on Thursday what was treated as blockbuster election-year reporting last summer of an anonymously sourced story in The New York Times claiming the Kremlin placed bounties on American troops in Afghanistan.

President Donald Trump, went the tale, deliberately downplayed the aggression to appease Russia and accelerate the timeline to withdraw U.S. forces. Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney, currently number three in House leadership, was a primary purveyor of the fake news.

“The United States intelligence community assesses with low to moderate confidence that Russian intelligence officers sought to encourage Taliban attacks on U.S. and coalition personnel in Afghanistan in 2019 and perhaps earlier,” a senior administration official said, according to the readout of a call with reporters in the Daily Beast.

Officials said their conclusion of “low to moderate confidence” in the story, which effectively means it’s at best unproven and potentially false, came “in part because it relies on detainee reporting,” an often unreliable source of intelligence on which to base such explosive claims.

As the story picked up traction in the corporate press, however, Cheney appeared to sense a prime opportunity to capitalize on what was treated as a scandal, to not only undermine Trump, but also justify a prolonged military presence in the region while the administration took steps to pull out. Neither to Cheney, nor legacy media, appeared to hesitate due to the claims’ poor sourcing.

The viral public post below generated a series of news stories in major publications including Axios and The Hill, and was cited in dozens of others while catching airtime on national networks as an admonishment to the president of her own party.

If reporting about Russian bounties on US forces is true, the White House must explain:
1. Why weren’t the president or vice president briefed? Was the info in the PDB?
2. Who did know and when?
3. What has been done in response to protect our forces & hold Putin accountable?

— Liz Cheney (@Liz_Cheney) June 28, 2020

Two days later, Politico, in an article titled, “Cheney takes on Trump,” wrote, “in her latest rebuke of Trump, Cheney openly questioned whether the president was aware of reports that the Russians offered Afghan militants bounties to kill U.S. troops and demanded the administration take a more aggressive posture toward the Kremlin.”

Cheney was persistent in pushing the story, much to the frustration of colleagues and even allies on Capitol Hill as she continued an inner-party crusade against the president in an election year from her position as House conference chair.

FWIW, quite a few people in recent weeks who generally like Cheney — including those not on the Hill — were extremely disappointed with how she worked so hard to help the NYT spread its false anti-Trump story about Russia bounties. https://t.co/rM1dbnMI6U

— Mollie (@MZHemingway) July 21, 2020

On June 29, Cheney released a joint statement with Texas Republican Rep. Mac Thornberry perpetuating the claims U.S. intelligence eventually conceded were a fake news story after Trump left office.

“After today’s briefing with senior White House officials, we remain concerned about Russian activity in Afghanistan, including reports that they have targeted U.S. forces. It has been clear for some time that Russia does not wish us well in Afghanistan,” they wrote. “We anticipate further briefings on this issue in the coming days.”

Cheney also pursued an ulterior motive to advance an interventionist foreign policy by amplifying the story alongside Democrats, as chronicled here by Glenn Greenwald in the Intercept. The at-large Wyoming congresswoman capitalized on the report of Russian bounties to sponsor an amendment with Colorado Democratic Rep. Jason Crow to prevent the White House from reducing the number of troops in Afghanistan to below 8,000, action the Trump administration was actively preparing to finalize.

The legislation didn’t pass, and the president ultimately followed through on the troop draw-down post-election. This earned him endless scorn in the same press that celebrated President Joe Biden when the Democrat commander-in-chief announced this week all troops would leave the war-torn country after two decades.

America’s adversaries should never question the will of the United States government or the American people to defend our interests, to protect the security of our nation, to protect our Armed Forces, and to respond when attacked or threatened. pic.twitter.com/czl22H8hrd

— Rep. Liz Cheney (@RepLizCheney) June 30, 2020

Cheney’s office did not respond to The Federalist’s request for comment on whether she now regrets fueling a narrative now debunked.

Cheney, who also angered colleagues when she undermined the conference she chairs with her support for Trump’s second impeachment in January, now faces a primary in her home state after she survived a House Republican referendum on her position in leadership. Since the vote, an emboldened Cheney has escalated her attempts to spark a GOP civil war by purging the party of Trumpism toreturn to the Bush-era Republicanism of a decade ago.

“It’s very important, especially for us as Republicans, to make clear that we aren’t the party of white supremacy,” she said at the Reagan Institute in February, detailing the pre-planned events at the Capitol in January as broadly representative of the GOP. “You certainly saw antisemitism. You saw the symbols of Holocaust denial. … You saw a Confederate flag being carried through the rotunda. We, as Republicans in particular, have a duty and an obligation to stand against that, to stand against insurrection.”

The remarks were carried by the corporate press as forceful comments from an invigorated congresswoman pledging to reclaim the party by joining leftists in their rhetoric to paint the GOP as riddled with white supremacy.

While Cheney feuds with her own party, the congresswoman with a coveted role in leadership has shown little interest in standing up for party colleagues who face egregious conduct from a hostile press as the new normal. On Sunday, Cheney appeared on CBS, the same network that carried out a hit piece on Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis that drew bipartisan disdain, and said nothing of its defamatory smear against the governor.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: cheneycrimefamily; fakenews; kremlin; leakers; leaking; leaks; lizcheney; newyorkslimes; putin; russia; russianbounties; sedition; treason; usintelligence
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1 posted on 04/16/2021 7:03:45 AM PDT by Kaslin
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To: Kaslin

I get 5 Emails a day from the Republican Party wanting money to fight democrats. Cheney is still in a leadership position. So are Mitch and McCarthy.
So I know they are not serious.

I tried to call them this week and tell them so. But I am not making this up, the RNC is closed on Mondays. That’s how big of a crisis it is to then. CLOSED on Mondays according to their recording.


2 posted on 04/16/2021 7:11:40 AM PDT by DesertRhino (Dog is man's best friend, and moslems hate dogs. Add that up. .... )
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To: Kaslin

What a total, backstabbing, POS Cheney is.


3 posted on 04/16/2021 7:12:31 AM PDT by Flick Lives (“Today we celebrate the first glorious anniversary of the Information Purification Directives.”)
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To: Kaslin

I would not be surprised if she was the one behind the Matt Gaetz rumors as well. She is a DS plant and should be rejected by all. As far as I’m concerned nepotism in government must end.


4 posted on 04/16/2021 7:12:36 AM PDT by 7thOF7th (Righteousness is our cause and justice will prevail!)
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To: Kaslin

Dismount her, as well as Murkowski and Collins, and exchange them for real Constitutional Americans.


5 posted on 04/16/2021 7:13:48 AM PDT by imardmd1 (Fiat Lux)
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To: 7thOF7th

I agree, payback for Matt Gaetz going to Wyoming to rally against Cheney


6 posted on 04/16/2021 7:14:03 AM PDT by PMAS (Vote with your wallets, there are 80 million of us - No Amazon, No Chy-Na made )
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To: 7thOF7th

Liz and her draft dodging father have been wailing about how if we don’t fight the Taliban “over there” we will have to fight them here. Its a redux of the old line “or they will be in San Francisco”. Now that we are leaving Afghanistan in September, I expect to see them in San Francisco - of course, San Francisco looks and smells like the Taliban are already there.


7 posted on 04/16/2021 7:16:23 AM PDT by laconic
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To: Kaslin

Of course she was. And other NeoCon psychos who are deranged war-seekers did, too.


8 posted on 04/16/2021 7:19:22 AM PDT by Trumpisourlastchance
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To: Kaslin

Wouldn’t removing an egotistical, entitled, lying, white woman be a defeat for white supremacy?


9 posted on 04/16/2021 7:19:43 AM PDT by alternatives? (If our borders are not secure, why fund an army?)
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To: Kaslin

Voting republican is idiotic unless we send new candidates. It’s foolish to trust that the ones who opposed Trump and had disdain for us are suddenly promising that now they understand and want to embrace blue collar America.
They are merely trying to save their job.

In no other situation would you trust such a backstabber. A politician who despises you suddenly wanting your support and promising they have changed is just an opportunist .

Current and Mitch have to go.


10 posted on 04/16/2021 7:21:46 AM PDT by DesertRhino (Dog is man's best friend, and moslems hate dogs. Add that up. .... )
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To: laconic

If it was so critical to fight them there to keep them from coming here, then it would seempretty basic to also not let them come here on airliners and that we should secure the border.


11 posted on 04/16/2021 7:25:30 AM PDT by DesertRhino (Dog is man's best friend, and moslems hate dogs. Add that up. .... )
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To: Kaslin

The Lizard has to go. Come on Wyoming!


12 posted on 04/16/2021 7:26:41 AM PDT by HighSierra5
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To: Kaslin

The poor gal is stupid and treacherous as she is homely, and that is in the extreme.

Yecchhh. Such a black hearted demon.

Pity the person who lives a life of rage and hostile self-aggrandizement, and have mercy on them but keep your guard up and step away if need be, for they are beyond reform.


13 posted on 04/16/2021 7:30:25 AM PDT by Quentin Quarantino
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To: Kaslin

As Dubya went to war in Iraq seeking to defend the honor of and seek approval from Daddy, so does Liz do the same with her war against President Trump who, just by being Trump, is a perceived a threat to Daddy.


14 posted on 04/16/2021 7:33:41 AM PDT by Quentin Quarantino
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To: DesertRhino
Cheney, who also angered colleagues when she undermined the conference...

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

If the GOP was serious they would constrain Cheney and hold her accountable. Instead they enabled her. The GOP is a fake party.

15 posted on 04/16/2021 7:50:23 AM PDT by Starboard
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To: Flick Lives

What a total, backstabbing, POS Cheney is.

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

You could say the same thing about the entire GOP.


16 posted on 04/16/2021 7:51:31 AM PDT by Starboard
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To: DesertRhino

The fundamental problem is that the party is rotten and irredeemable. It has no principles or convictions. It stands for nothing. It does however do a pretty good job of stabbing its naive and gullible voters in the back.

The party is what it is.


17 posted on 04/16/2021 7:55:25 AM PDT by Starboard
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To: Starboard

Most of the GOP rank and file were as complicit as demorats/media in foisting a coup on PDJT & this Country.

When you see guys/gals like Jim Jordan be voted into GOP leadership positions, maybe only then we can have confidence in the GOP again!?


18 posted on 04/16/2021 8:01:52 AM PDT by bantam
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To: imardmd1

Dismount her, as well as Murkowski and Collins, and exchange them for real Constitutional Americans.

Collins is not touchable for five years and I am not sure in a former colony of mASSachusettes, it is possible to find anyone with a working brain. Murkowski allegedly is in trouble, finally. Hopefully we can unseat her. What is Palin doing these days??

Speaking of Palin, I saw that POS Nicole Wallace on the other night. I wanted to punch the TV.


19 posted on 04/16/2021 8:03:19 AM PDT by Mouton (The enemy of the people is the media.)
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To: Kaslin

Bush League Republicans are nothing more than Assistant Democrats.


20 posted on 04/16/2021 8:12:16 AM PDT by Lurkinanloomin (Natural Born Citizens Are Born Here of Citizen Parents)(Know Islam, No Peace - No Islam, Know Peace)
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