Washington Post Gave Trump ‘Four Pinocchios’ When He Questioned the Now Debunked ‘Russia Bounties’ Story

Remember when the New York Times broke the fake Russia bounties story? The WaPo fact-checker gave him four Pinocchios for his claim that the story was a hoax.

Now we know it’s a hoax, but will WaPo apologize for getting it so dreadfully wrong? Don’t hold your breath.

News sites apologize but propaganda sites never do. At the time the intel community admitted they never briefed anyone at the White House because the story was just an internet rumor.

Now, President Trump is having the last laugh as he has always done when fighting the lamestream press.

This came to light again during a Psaki press confere3nce when she was asked if Biden regre3tted lying about Trump when he constantly repeated the story as true.

Psaki wouldn’t answer but we all know lying in ingrained in liberal DNA, so we don’t expect anything less from them.

Last July, the New York Times reported that U.S. intelligence said that Russia was offering bounty money to the Taliban for killing American soldiers without so much as a single crumb of proof.

Considering the fact that almost no servicemen or women were killed during the period the bounty was allegedly being paid made the story less than credible. The intel community denials did not change the way the propaganda sites reported on the story.

It was a blockbuster story about Russia’s return to the imperial “Great Game” in Afghanistan. The Kremlin had spread money around the longtime central Asian battlefield for militants to kill remaining U.S. forces. It sparked a massive outcry from Democrats and their #resistance amplifiers about the treasonous Russian puppet in the White House whose admiration for Vladimir Putin had endangered American troops.

But on Thursday, the Biden administration announced that U.S. intelligence only had “low to moderate” confidence in the story after all. Translated from the jargon of spyworld, that means the intelligence agencies have found the story is, at best, unproven—and possibly untrue.

WaPo has not updated their rating which will allow them to continue to report on the story as true when President Trump runs in 2024.

Published June 26, 2020Updated July 29, 2020WASHINGTON — American intelligence officials have concluded that a Russian military intelligence unit secretly offered bounties to Taliban-linked militants for killing coalition forces in Afghanistan — including targeting American troops — amid the peace talks to end the long-running war there, according to officials briefed on the matter.

The United States concluded months ago that the Russian unit, which has been linked to assassination attempts and other covert operations in Europe intended to destabilize the West or take revenge on turncoats, had covertly offered rewards for successful attacks last year.

Islamist militants, or armed criminal elements closely associated with them, are believed to have collected some bounty money, the officials said. Twenty Americans were killed in combat in Afghanistan in 2019, but it was not clear which killings were under suspicion. - https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/26/us/politics/russia-afghanistan-bounties.html

President Trump Says Report on Russian Afghanistan Bounties Isn’t Credible,June 27, 2020, 4:46 PM EDT Updated on June 28, 2020, 11:26 PM EDT: Donald Trump said in a tweet that U.S. intelligence officials told him a report that the Russian government paid bounties for American and allied troops to be killed in Afghanistan wasn’t credible, and therefore didn’t brief him about it.

Published June 29, 2020Updated Nov. 16, 2020: American officials provided a written briefing in late February to President Trump laying out their conclusion that a Russian military intelligence unit offered and paid bounties to Taliban-linked militants to kill U.S. and coalition troops in Afghanistan, two officials familiar with the matter said. - https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/29/us/politics/russian-bounty-trump.html

Associated Press, June 28, 2020: ‘This is as bad as it gets,’ says Pelosi as Trump denies he was briefed on Russian bounties in Afghanistan...Democratic presumptive presidential nominee Joe Biden said reports that Trump was aware of the Russian bounties would be a “truly shocking revelation” about the commander in chief and his failure to protect U.S. troops in Afghanistan and stand up to Russia. - https://www.marketwatch.com/story/trump-seeks-to-cast-doubt-on-reported-russian-bounties-in-afghanistan-echoes-claim-that-he-and-pence-were-never-briefed-2020-06-28

Salvador Rizzo, July 30, 2020, Trump’s Four-Pinocchio interview on Russian bounties:

Jonathan Swan, Axios: “It’s been widely reported that the U.S. has intelligence indicating that Russia paid bounties, or offered to pay bounties, to Taliban fighters to kill American soldiers. You had a phone call with Vladimir Putin on July 23rd. Did you bring up this issue?” President Trump: “No, that was a phone call to discuss other things, and frankly, that’s an issue that many people said was fake news.” — Exchange on “Axios on HBO,” July 29, 2020 Trump: “It never reached my desk. You know why? Because they didn’t think it — intelligence — they didn’t think it was real.” Swan: “It was in your written brief, though.” Trump: “They didn’t think, they didn’t think it was worthy. I wouldn’t mind. If it reached my desk, I would have done something about it. It never reached my desk because — ” Swan: “Do you read your written brief?” Trump: “I do. I read it a lot. I read a lot. They like to say I don’t read. I read a lot. I comprehend extraordinarily well, probably better than anybody you’ve interviewed in a long time.” — “Axios on HBO” interview

The Facts White House officials were first informed in early 2019 of intelligence reports that Russia was offering bounties to Taliban-linked militants to kill U.S. and allied military personnel in Afghanistan, but the information at the time was deemed sketchy and in need of additional confirmation, sources previously told The Washington Post. -https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/07/30/trumps-four-pinocchio-interview-russian-bounties/

April 15, 2021: Biden admin says the CIA intel is not conclusive. The Biden administration made clear Thursday that the CIA has only "low to moderate confidence" in its intel on alleged Russian bounties for U.S. troops.

WASHINGTON — While he was campaigning for president, Joe Biden treated as fact that U.S. intel agencies had determined Russia had paid the Taliban to kill Americans in Afghanistan.

"I don't understand why this president is unwilling to take on Putin when he's actually paying bounties to kill American soldiers in Afghanistan," Biden said of President Trump, speaking to Kristen Welker of NBC News during the Oct. 22 presidential debate.

Such a definitive statement was questionable even then. On Thursday, it became more clear that the truth of the matter is unresolved.

They still have not found any evidence, a senior defense official said Thursday. And the Biden administration also made clear in a fact sheet released Thursday that the CIA's intelligence on the matter is far from conclusive, acknowledging that analysts labeled it "low to moderate confidence." - https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/remember-those-russian-bounties-dead-u-s-troops-biden-admin-n1264215

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