‘Saying the quiet part out loud’: Trump criticized for suggesting $5 billion weapons contract awarded to boost 2020 chances in Wisconsin

Published on June 26, 2020 By Common Dreams


“There is nothing normal about the commander-in-chief publicly admitting that the government contracting process was corrupted by political considerations.”

Several shipbuilding companies may have grounds to file formal complaints with the U.S. Navy and the Government Accountability Office after President Donald Trump on Thursday suggested a multi-billion dollar weapons contract was awarded to a Wisconsin company because of its status location in a key 2020 battleground state.

Speaking to workers at Fincantieri Marinette Marine on Thursday, Trump said the company was selected for the $5.5 billion contract to build 10 guided-missile frigates because of the speed and maneuverability of its existing ships—and because of the company’s location in a swing state.

“I hear the maneuverability is one of the big factors that you were chosen for the contract,” the president said. “The other is your location in Wisconsin, if you want to know the truth.”

“Always saying the quiet part out loud and undermining trust in government along the way,” Peter W. Singer of the think tank New America tweeted in response.

Trump Says Electoral Vote Politics Swayed Navy’s Frigate Award https://t.co/jgLLurHT07 via @defenseone

“The other is your location in Wisconsin, if you want to know the truth.”
Always saying the quiet part out loud and undermining trust in government along the way.
— Peter W. Singer (@peterwsinger) June 26, 2020

Fincantieri Marinette Marine was awarded the contract in April, beating out companies in Maine, Mississippi, and Alabama. Maine, which has not supported a Republican for president in more than three decades, is currently expected to go to presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden in November, and the solidly-red states of Mississippi and Alabama are expected to vote for Trump.

“There is nothing normal about the commander-in-chief publicly admitting that the government contracting process was corrupted by political considerations.”
—Robert Mackey, The Intercept

In Wisconsin, Biden is currently polling 10 points ahead of Trump according to a Marquette Law School survey taken on June 18. Hillary Clinton narrowly lost the battleground state in 2016 by fewer than 23,000 votes.

As Robert Mackey wrote at The Intercept on Thursday, the shipbuilders who were passed over for the contract could feasibly file a protest with the GAO’s Procurement Law Division.

“There is nothing normal about the commander-in-chief publicly admitting that the government contracting process was corrupted by political considerations,” wrote Mackey.

The three companies who lost out on the contract have 10 days to file a protest from the day they learn that the reasoning for awarding the work to Fincantieri Marinette Marine may have been questionable, according to the GAO.

“That sound you’re hearing is every Navy acquisition [public affairs officer] putting their phone on ‘do not disturb’ and activating their out-of-the-office automated email responses until the protest period ends,” wrote Andrew Clevenger, a defense policy reporter at Roll Call.

Jodi Vittori of the anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International added that the U.S. Congress and the inspector general of the Navy could have reason to investigate the contract

If true, once again, #American #tax for defense are going to bolster election prospects and also point to further politicization of #military procurement. Looks like something for #IG and #Congress to investigate https://t.co/qszCgB6f4O
— Jodi Vittori (@j_vittori) June 26, 2020

During his appearance in Wisconsin, the president also claimed that 15,000 jobs would be created by the guided-missile frigate project before changing the projected number to 9,000. Both estimates were well over the one put forward by Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wisc.) in April, who projected “more than 5,000 direct and indirect jobs” would be created over a 10-year period as a result of the contract.

At The Intercept, Mackey corrected the record regarding Trump’s claim during his speech that he had personally intervened in the design of the previously “terrible-looking” frigate, helping to design a “beautiful model.”

“It’s like a yacht with missiles on it,” the president told the workers.

In fact, Mackey wrote, the frigate is based on an Italian warship that was in existence long before the Trump administration awarded the contract to Fincantieri Marinette Marine

PERMANENT ARMS ECONOMY

THE ENEMY OF MY ENEMY.....

Ireland’s old rivals forge coalition, shutting out Sinn Fein
GREEN'S JOIN IN RIGHT WING COALITION

Published on June 26, 2020 By Agence France-Presse


Ireland’s two historic centre-right rivals forged an unlikely coalition with the Green Party on Friday that shuts the resurgent republicans Sinn Fein out of government.

The alliance brings together incumbent Prime Minister Leo Varadkar’s Fine Gael with its ancient foe Fianna Fail — the two stalwarts of Irish politics.

The premiership is to rotate between the two, with Varadkar reportedly agreeing to assume the leadership after Fianna Fail’s Micheal Martin.

The much smaller Greens become kingmakers in a February election that fractured parliament and left Sinn Fein — historically associated with the paramilitary Irish Republican Army (IRA) — within touching distance of a role in government.

“There’s work to be done, and we’re the ones to try and help make it happen,” Greens leader Eamon Ryan said after all three backed the coalition in internal votes among its members.Had the proposed alliance faltered, Ireland risked the prospect of holding an election while the country clawed its way out of its coronavirus lockdown.

But analysts said Sinn Fein could savour its role as the main opposition party in the middle of a global health and economic crisis.

– ‘United and strong’ –

Varadkar’s Fine Gael was the first to back the deal Friday, giving it support from 80 percent of its members.

“Fine Gael is going to enter a third term in government and this new coalition is united and strong, and up to the challenge,” Varadkar told reporters.

Fianna Fail, the EU member state’s biggest party with 38 seats in the 160 seat chamber, backed the deal with 74 percent approval.

Its leader Martin is expected to be voted in as Taoiseach, or prime minister, in a special parliamentary sitting on Saturday now that the Greens have approved the deal.

“We have chosen this route, it has many challenges,” said Martin.

“But on the other hand it’s also a moment of opportunity and a moment of hope for our people.”

Under a rota system, Varadkar — whose party was routed to third place with 35 seats — would reportedly return to office in December 2022.

– Sinn Fein surge –

The Greens secured numerous flagship concessions in the coalition talks, wielding an outsized influence as a 12-seat bloc vital to providing the alliance with a parliamentary majority.

But progressive party members had reason to be cautious of a deal with Ireland’s centre-right establishment.

After entering a coalition with Fianna Fail in 2007, the Green Party was wiped out in the ensuing 2011 general election, losing all six of its parliamentary seats.In a dramatic upheaval of the status quo, February’s general the election saw republican party Sinn Fein leap to prominence.

The one-time fringe party won the popular vote with 24.5 percent of first preference ballots, becoming the second-largest force in parliament after running on a left-wing platform.

It now expects to become the main opposition party.

That could act as a vital foothold in a push to power in the next election, analysts said.

“Being the lead party of opposition would suit them well, and I don’t think they’d be too worried about a second election,” University College Cork politics researcher Jonathan Evershed told AFP.

But the pandemic also improved the prospects Fine Gael, which bled seats in February after pinning its election campaign on success in the politically-tense Brexit negotiations.

An Irish Times/Ipsos MRBI poll published last week showed Varadkar enjoying a 75-percent approval rating.

© 2020 AFP

Company linked to Trump adviser got millions in coronavirus aid as he urged GOP to cut relief
 
 June 27, 2020 By Igor Derysh, Salon

THE LAUGHABLE CURVE 
Art Laffer, a longtime economic adviser to President Donald Trump, urged Republicans against funding additional coronavirus relief even as a company in which he held stock cashed in on tens of millions in small business aid.

Laffer, who popularized the idea of “trickle-down economics” and advised Trump on tax cuts and coronavirus relief, called for the president and Senate Republicans to “cut the [coronavirus] spending” in a letter released on June 16.

“There is no limit to worthy causes, but there is a limit to other people’s money,” the letter addressed to Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and signed by 20 prominent Republicans, including Laffer, fellow Trump adviser Stephen Moore and tax-cut zealot Grover Norquist, said. “The inside-the-Beltway crowd falsely calls these trillions of dollars a ‘stimulus’ to the economy. But government can only give money to some people, as Nobel-prize winning economist Milton Friedman taught all of us many years ago, by taking money from others.

But a company in which Laffer owned stock and served as a director for years had no problem “taking money from others” when it announced it received nearly $20 million in forgivable loans under the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). (Disclosure: Salon received a PPP loan to keep our staff and independent journalism at 100%.)

Laffer served on the board of directors at GEE Group, a provider of staffing and human resources solutions, until March. Laffer had been on the board since 2015.

At the end of last year, Laffer appears to have held nearly $154,000 in GEE Group shares at the company’s closing price of $0.39 per share on Dec. 23, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing. The stock holdings were in addition to the $26,000 in stock awards he earned from the company last year.

And the holdings are significant. The company had more than 13 million outstanding shares, meaning Laffer’s 394,140 shares amounted to about 3% of the company’s value, according to the SEC filing.

GEE Group, a provider of staffing and human resources solutions, said it received $19.9 million in PPP loans, according to an SEC filing, even after it laid off workers, per a financial report released last month.

“Art Laffer waves his finger at federal relief spending for working families but doesn’t seem to mind when it benefits him personally,” Derek Martin, a spokesman for the progressive watchdog group Accountable.US, told Salon. “His hypocrisy wouldn’t be so serious if it weren’t coming while millions of workers in desperate need of a lifeline continue to file for unemployment benefits. This is yet another example of the wealthy and well-connected getting ahead during this crisis.”

Accountable.US reviewed the documents as part of its TrumpBailouts.org project, which tracks recipients of PPP money after Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the department would not disclose who received the funds. The department on Thursday relented, agreeing to give Congress access to the loan data.

Despite Laffer’s opposition to the coronavirus stimulus, the Small Business Administration touted the PPP as a “direct incentive for small businesses to keep their workers on the payroll.”

GEE Group argued in the SEC filing that PPP loans were “the only source of funding available to our companies” and were “absolutely critical to our ability to maintain operations, including the employment of our temporary and full-time employees.”

The company said the loans were necessary to counter the “severe negative effects” of the pandemic. The company indicated in its financial report that the PPP loans “allowed the company to restore compensation levels and bring back furloughed employees and selectively add new talent.”

Shortly after laying off workers earlier this year, the company announced it would add three new members to its board of directors. The company’s SEC filing showed that its board of directors collectively own millions in company stock, suggesting that the new hires are poised to earn hundreds of thousands — if not millions — in stock.

Laffer holds a lot of influence in the Trump administration. He “helped write” the Trump campaign’s tax plan, according to The New York Times, and mentored Larry Kudlow, the head of the White House economic council.

Trump praised Laffer, who wrote a fawning book about the president’s economic policies titled “Trumponomics,” when he awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom last year.

“Few people in history have revolutionized economic theory like Arthur Laffer,” he said, claiming that “Art would go on to prove [critics] all wrong on a number of occasions.”

THE PROOF IS IN THE PUDDING
“Laffer’s relentless and sunny advocacy of tax cuts, deregulation and free trade have influenced decades of Republican policy proposals, most famously under President Ronald Reagan in the 1980s,” The Times reported. “Democrats have criticized him for repeatedly promising that tax cuts would deliver growth and revenues that did not appear, such as damaging state tax cuts in Kansas that produced a large shortfall in the state budget and prompted the Republican-controlled Legislature to ultimately reverse them.”Since the pandemic hit, Laffer has advised Trump, Mnuchin and Kudlow on economic issues, according to RealClearPolitics. But Laffer advised the administration against supporting the CARES Act, which included the PPP, even though Trump now brags that the bill helped save “30 million American jobs.”

Laffer instead urged Trump to impose taxes on non-profits, cut the pay of public officials and college professors and give businesses and workers a payroll tax holiday until the end of the year, according to Reuters. Laffer claimed that the CARES Act would “only serve to deepen the downturn” and “disincentivize work,” according to the outlet.

Economists and lawmakers largely agree that the CARES Act, and the PPP specifically, were a massive help to millions of small businesses and workers. However, many argue that the program needs more funding as companies continue to struggle.

Laffer was nevertheless floated as a potential candidate to serve on Trump’s task force to reopen the economy.

“Bring in minds like Art Laffer,” Fox News host Sean Hannity urged in April.

Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, who sits on the Senate Appropriations Committee, said that adding Laffer to the task force would be a terrible idea.

Laffer has “bad ideas that are even worse in a pandemic,” he told RealClearPolitics. “It is a very crazy time to put someone like this in charge of economic policy.”

Biden slams Trump over reported bounties placed on US troops
By LYNN BERRY

FILE - In this June 17, 2020, file photo, Democratic presidential candidate, former Vice President Joe Biden speaks in Darby, Pa. The coronavirus pandemic isn't going away anytime soon, but campaigns are still forging ahead with in-person organizing. The pandemic upended elections this year, forcing campaigns to shift their organizing activities almost entirely online and compelling both parties to reconfigure their conventions. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)


WASHINGTON (AP) — Joe Biden attacked President Donald Trump on Saturday over a report that he said, if true, contains a “truly shocking revelation” about the commander in chief and his failure to protect U.S. troops in Afghanistan and stand up to Russia.

The New York Times reported Friday that American intelligence officials concluded months ago that a Russian military intelligence unit secretly offered bounties to Taliban-linked militants for killing U.S. troops in Afghanistan. The report said the Russians offered rewards for successful attacks last year, at a time when the U.S. and Taliban were holding talks to end the long-running war.

“The truly shocking revelation that if the Times report is true, and I emphasize that again, is that President Trump, the commander in chief of American troops serving in a dangerous theater of war, has known about this for months, according to the Times, and done worse than nothing,” Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee, said during a virtual town hall.

The White House said neither Trump nor Vice President Mike Pence was briefed on such intelligence. “This does not speak to the merit of the alleged intelligence but to the inaccuracy of the New York Times story erroneously suggesting that President Trump was briefed on this matter,” press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said in a statement.

Russia called the report “nonsense.”

“This unsophisticated plant clearly illustrates the low intellectual abilities of the propagandists of American intelligence, who instead of inventing something more plausible have to make up this nonsense,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

The Times quoted a Taliban spokesman denying that its militants have such a deal with the Russian intelligence agency.

The newspaper, citing unnamed officials familiar with the intelligence, said the findings were presented to Trump and discussed by his National Security Council in late March. Officials developed potential responses, starting with a diplomatic complaint to Russia, but the White House has yet to authorize any step, the report said.

Biden slammed Trump over his reported failure to act.

“Not only has he failed to sanction and impose any kind of consequences on Russia for this egregious violation of international law, Donald Trump has continued his embarrassing campaign of deference and debasing himself before Vladimir Putin,” the former vice president said.

Biden called it a “betrayal of the most sacred duty we bear as a nation — to protect and equip our troops when we send them into harm’s way.”

He said Americans who serve in the military put their life on the line. “But they should never, never, never ever face a threat like this with their commander in chief turning a blind eye to a foreign power putting a bounty on their heads,” he said.

“I’m quite frankly outraged by the report,” Biden said. He promised that if he is elected, “Putin will be confronted and we’ll impose serious costs on Russia.

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/06/russia-offered-afghans-bounty-to-kill-u.html

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com2020/06/a-dereliction-of-duty-bombshell-nyt.html

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/06/trump-administration-has-refused-/to.html

Trump administration has refused to respond after learning Russia offered bounties for killing US troops: report

 June 26, 2020 By Bob Brigham


President Donald Trump has refused to authorize any response after being briefed that Russia was offering bounties for the killing of U.S. troops, according to a bombshell new report in The New York Times.

“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,” the newspaper reported, citing “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,” The Times explained. “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.”

Trump was offered options to respond, but has taken no action.

“The intelligence finding was briefed to President Trump, and the White House’s National Security Council discussed the problem at an interagency meeting in late March, the officials said. Officials developed a menu of potential options — starting with making a diplomatic complaint to Moscow and a demand that it stop, along with an escalating series of sanctions and other possible responses, but the White House has yet to authorize any step, the officials said,” the newspaper explained. “Any involvement with the Taliban that resulted in the deaths of American troops would also be a huge escalation of Russia’s so-called hybrid war against the United States, a strategy of destabilizing adversaries through a combination of such tactics as cyberattacks, the spread of fake news and covert and deniable military operations.”

Dmitry Peskov, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s press secretary, said the United States had not raised the issue.

“If someone makes them, we’ll respond,” Peskov said of the accusation.

American troops were reportedly not the only ones to be targeted.

“The officials familiar with the intelligence did not explain the White House delay in deciding how to respond to the intelligence about Russia,” the newspaper reported. “They said the intelligence has been treated as a closely held secret, but the administration expanded briefings about it this week — including sharing information about it with the British government, whose forces are among those said to have been targeted.”

EXCLUSIVE: A Russian spy unit secretly offered bounties to militants in Afghanistan for killing American troops, U.S. intelligence officials found. Trump and White House have known for months, but not authorized any response.
w/ @EricSchmittNYT @mschwirtzhttps://t.co/o5NKTRDE8h
— Charlie Savage (@charlie_savage) June 26, 2020


Trump is owned by Putin’: President accused of ‘literal treason’ after bombshell NYT report on Russian assassination unit


June 26, 2020 Bob Brigham


President Donald Trump was harshly criticized on Friday after a bombshell New York Times report on Russia offering bounties for the killing of U.S. troops in Afghanistan.

“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,” the newspaper reported,” the newspaper reported.

“The intelligence finding was briefed to President Trump, and the White House’s National Security Council discussed the problem at an interagency meeting in late March, the officials said. Officials developed a menu of potential options — starting with making a diplomatic complaint to Moscow and a demand that it stop, along with an escalating series of sanctions and other possible responses, but the White House has yet to authorize any step, the officials said,” the newspaper explained. “Any involvement with the Taliban that resulted in the deaths of American troops would also be a huge escalation of Russia’s so-called hybrid war against the United States, a strategy of destabilizing adversaries through a combination of such tactics as cyberattacks, the spread of fake news and covert and deniable military operations.

Here’s some of what people were saying about the scandal:


This the same group, Unit 29155 of Russia’s military intelligence agency, implicated in the poisoning of Sergei Skripal in Britain and a coup attempt in Montenegro. It has never been publicly accused of involvement in attacks on Western soldiers
— Michael Schwirtz (@mschwirtz) June 26, 2020


"Article I, Section 29, of the State Constitution is similar to Article III, Section 3 of the United States Constitution, limiting the legal definition of "treason" to levying war against the State or giving "aid and comfort" to the enemies of the State."
— Contented Independent (@ContentedIndie) June 26, 2020

WHO GAVE THE STAND DOWN ORDER https://t.co/ZX6usoAQL5
— David Waldman-1, of Yorktown LLC™ (@KagroX) June 26, 2020

Trump is owned by Putin completely and a fucking traitor. https://t.co/wC5G6UhA4S
— Todd Poirier (@todd_poirier) June 26, 2020

Why isn't Trump trying to stop Russia from trying to kill U.S. soldiers? https://t.co/PCm6hTzjQI
— Eric Geller (@ericgeller) June 26, 2020

There's a word for giving aid and comfort to our nation's enemies during wartime. What was it again? Can't put my finger on it… https://t.co/Y9tLBA0pUy
— Patrick S. Tomlinson (@stealthygeek) June 26, 202

This will erode Trump's support with military and veteran families. https://t.co/pY8pOP2I47
— Cheri Jacobus (@CheriJacobus) June 26, 2020

Shocking. And Trump continues to call Putin his friend — his one consistent foreign policy position over the last 4 years. "Russia Secretly Offered Afghan Militants Bounties to Kill U.S. Troops, Intelligence Says" https://t.co/8TtutSctUq
— Michael McFaul (@McFaul) June 26, 2020

Donald Trump’s partners in treason plotted the killing of American troops in Afghanistan. How proud Republican voters must again be of their choices. | NYT: Russia Secretly Offered Afghan Militants Bounties to Kill Troops, U.S. Intelligence Says https://t.co/DTexGdyjcs
— Mikko Alanne (@MikkoAlanne) June 26, 2020

In other words, Russia declared war on the United States and NATO.
r maybe was never at peace at any time in the last century. https://t.co/vFiu9zME4g
— Eric Garland (@ericgarland) June 26, 2020

While Trump was cozying up to Putin, Russia was paying the Taliban to kill American troops in Afghanistan https://t.co/dbKjPHLpgh
— Laura Bassett (@LEBassett) June 26, 2020

My god, the cynical deviousness of covertly paying mujahideen in Afghanistan to attack and kill your great power rivals as their military occupation unravels. Where could the Russians have even come up with *that* https://t.co/FHRoyDKpem
— Adam Weinstein (@AdamWeinstein) June 26, 2020

American soldiers dying so that Putin won’t show Donald’s pee tape.#TrumpsAmerica https://t.co/qcUZ9RS1N0
— “Tom the Dancing Bug” comic strip (@RubenBolling) June 26, 2020

‘Sickening’: Trump slammed by Dem lawmaker for staying silent while Russians pay bounty for US troop deaths

June 27, 2020 By Matthew Chapman


On Saturday, Rep. Madeleine Dean (D-PA) tore into President Donald Trump over the new report that Russia has been offering bounties to kill U.S. troops in Afghanistan — and Trump continued to publicly seek favors for Russia during that time.

“It is chilling. It is sickening. And it’s shocking, but maybe it shouldn’t be,” said Dean. “This is how rotten to the core this president is. He doesn’t seem to have any compassion or understanding. He doesn’t seem to really love this country. He doesn’t seem to really understand our Constitution. He certainly curries favor with our enemies and disrespects and disregards our allies and our friends.”

Watch below

Joe Scarborough rains hell on #MoscowMitch over silence on Trump/Russia bombshell report

 June 27, 2020 By Bob Brigham

MSNBC anchor Joe Scarborough blasted Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) for silence in the wake of a bombshell New York Times report.

The newspaper on Friday reported that Russia was offering bounties for the killing of U.S. troops in Afghanistan. The report said President Donald Trump had been briefed on options for response but had not authorized any action.

After the story broke, Scarborough asked which Republicans would speak out against Trump’s conduct.

Russians are paying Islamic radicals to kill American troops in Afghanistan. Donald Trump has known about Putin targeting Americans for months and has refused to even condemn Russia diplomatically. What Republican senator will speak out against this shocking dereliction of duty?” Scarborough asked on Friday.

After silence from Republicans, Scarborough pressed the topic, referring to McConnell as “Moscow Mitch.”

“What will #MoscowMitch say about Russians putting bounties on American troops’ heads and Donald Trump saying nothing about it?” he asked. “Is #MoscowMitch as beholden to Putin as the compromised commander in chief?”

He also asked the question about four Republican senators facing tough reelection battles in 2020: Susan Collins (R-ME), Cory Gardner (R-CO), Martha McSally (R-AZ) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC).

Scarborough then added Marco Rubio (R-FL), Thom Tillis (R-NC) and Steve Daines (R-MT) to the conversation.

Here are Scarborough’s Twitter comments:

Russians are paying Islamic radicals to kill American troops in Afghanistan. Donald Trump has known about Putin targeting Americans for months and has refused to even condemn Russia diplomatically. What Republican senator will speak out against this shocking dereliction of duty? pic.twitter.com/q1GMU7bQb4
— Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) June 27, 2020

What will #MoscowMitch say about Russians putting bounties on American troops’ heads and Donald Trump saying nothing about it?
Is #MoscowMitch as beholden to Putin as the compromised commander in chief? What about @SenSusanCollins? @CoryGardner? @MarthaMcSally? @LindseyGrahamSC? pic.twitter.com/SSoaz2K8q4
— Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) June 27, 2020


Trump checklist:

Protect Confederate Statues
Protect US Troops
— Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) June 27, 2020
cc: @marcorubio @LindseyGrahamSC @SenSusanCollins @CoryGardner @SenMcSallyAZ @senthomtillis@SteveDaines https://t.co/jWbert5v5F
— Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) June 27, 2020


March 2020- Trump learns Russia is paying Islamic militants to kill Americans.
May 8, 2020- Trump says: “We have this great friendship. And, by the way, getting along with Russia is a great thing, getting along with Putin and Russia is a great thing.” https://t.co/b0Qy0SnCMB
— Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) June 27, 2020

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/06/russia-offered-afghans-bounty-to-kill-u.html

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com2020/06/a-dereliction-of-duty-bombshell-nyt.html


https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/06/trump-administration-has-refused-/to.html

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/06/biden-slams-trump-over-reported.html

A dereliction of duty: Bombshell NYT report reveals the Trump-Russia story is far from over

By Terry H. Schwadron, DCReport @ RawStory - Commentary
on June 27, 2020

The news late yesterday was chilling: Russians have been paying Taliban militants to kill Americans in Afghanistan even as peace talks with the Taliban were under way, intelligence sources told The New York Times.

And Donald Trump has known about this intelligence since the beginning of March and has done nothing about it.

Actually, the more you roll this disclosure over in your mind, the worse it gets.

Protecting U.S. troops is Job One for any president, but particularly this one who insists on its primacy. And he isn’t doing his job to protect our sons and daughters in the field.

This alone should be an impeachable offense

But it says more, much more about Trump’s turn away from real world problems that affect the rest of us, from pandemic to income inequality to racism. Thanks to coronavirus and joblessness, the disclosure wasn’t even considered the most important news of the day.

The Times said U.S intelligence has evidence that a Russian military spy unit has been paying Islamic militants linked to the Taliban to target Americans and other coalition troops. Just why Russia is doing this remains murky: Perhaps Russia wanted to break up peace talks with violence against Americans, perhaps it was in retaliation for a U.S. attack in Syria that unintentionally killed Russian soldiers.

Whatever it was or is, no one knows how many of the 20 Americans killed last year in Afghanistan were targeted this way. It’s a different picture than Trump appearing with U.S. troops for a celebratory photo.

What we do know is that U.S. troops were attacked and we did nothing about it.

Military Rift with TrumpThe disclosure emerged as The United States was finally telling British allies about it this week. Does that mean that the United States officially was withholding these developments from allies – another abridgment of presidential duty or at least moral responsibility?

Is this not an escalation of anti-American, anti-allied interests at a time when we’re talking about pulling troops from Europe?

That normally closed-mouth U.S. defense and intelligence folks would discuss this with these reporters who cover these areas seems a direct reflection of the growing rift with Trump over national security policy-making. According to The Times, military officials offered a range of anti-Russia alternatives in March, and Trump has sat on them.For the United States apparently to do nothing at all is stunning all by itself.

We’ve seen the White House interfere with the military hierarchy over assignment and promotion of Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, who spoke out after Trump’s impeachable blackmail attempts of the Ukraine president. We’ve seen Trump moving to manipulate military justice courts in the cases involving former SEAL Edward Gallagher and the Navy captain who tried to help a virused crew.

We’ve seen the generals increasingly willing to split publicly with Trump, and Trump, in turn, insulting and belittling people like James Mattis, the former secretary of defense, John Kelly Jr., the former chief of staff and others. Only Trump himself knows the answers on foreign policy.

Except on issues involving Russia, and once again, we find ourselves scratching the head wondering whether Trump is not acting here— even issuing some formal knock-it-off message to the Kremlin out of some long, never-fully-disclosed loyalty to the Kremlin.

With the extraordinary Trump administration effort this week to overturn criminal charges against the twice-admitted liar Michael T. Flynn, unsubstantiated “treason” calls against former President Barack Obama, we find ourselves still steeped in the Trump-Russia question.

Where’s the Tough?Quite to the contrary of Trump’s self-proclaimed toughness on Russia, we are hearing of Trump’s maneuvering to get Russian leader Vladimir Putin back into the Group of Eight meetings. There is no more talk of sanctions against Russia–only acquiescence to Russian control of Syria, an acceptance of ending Russia nuclear weapons treaties, a proposed withdrawal of American troops from Europe and constant diminution of NATO. Russia is still in the Ukraine, Russia is still supporting Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela, Russia is still reportedly active in seeking to disrupt U.S. elections.

Where is the Trump toughness?

Yes, we’ve had a pandemic, an economic tsunami and seen widespread protests for social justice. But Trump has found time for anti-immigration moves and an attack on the U.S. health system along with personal promotion, campaign rallies and golf.

You think he could spend a few minutes on protecting Americans in uniform?

We’re seeing that the need to declare Afghanistan over, when it is not, in time for the Trump re-election campaign apparently outweighs the lives of our troops.

So long as you are there, do your job, Donald Trump.




Ambassador McFaul reveals damning flaw in the White House denial over Trump’s latest Russia scandal

Published on June 27, 2020By Bob Brigham


Former Obama administration Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul offered his analysis on Saturday after the White House finally responded to the bombshell New York Times report that Russia had put bounties on U.S. troops serving in Afghanistan.

“The White House denied President Trump had been briefed on U.S. intelligence that reportedly determined Russia offered secret bounties to kill U.S. troops,” the Washington Examiner reported Saturday. “Kayleigh McEnany, the White House press secretary, issued a statement soon after presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden castigated Trump for reportedly taking no retaliatory action.”

“The United States receives thousands of intelligence reports a day, and they are subject to strict scrutiny. While the White House does not routinely comment on alleged intelligence or internal deliberations, the CIA director, national security adviser, and the chief of staff can all confirm that neither the president nor the vice president were briefed on the alleged Russian bounty intelligence,” McEnany claimed in a statement.



NN analyst and Russia expert Bianna Golodryga, who was born in the USSR, was perplexed by the statement.

“Why on earth would the [White House] wait 24 hours to respond with this given how damning the story is?” she wondered.

Ambassador McFaul, who also worked for the National Security Council, had his own question.

“And, if true, why on earth was the president not briefed on his intelligence?” McFaul asked.

The scandal has blown up since the NYT report, which The Washington Post confirmed. On Saturday, “Traitor Trump” and “TRE45ON” trended nationwide on Twitter.



And, if true, why on earth was the president not briefed on his intelligence? https://t.co/za4cLNvJkJ
— Michael McFaul (@McFaul) June 27, 2020

I am really outraged by Trump's indifference to Putin paying Taliban terrorists to kill American soldiers. I can't imagine my anger if one of my sons were deployed in Afghanistan right now. https://t.co/wOIfZpXt6f
— Michael McFaul (@McFaul) June 27, 2020

Im not a lawyer. But I hope the American people will be as outraged as I am over Trump's complacency. After he knew about these Putin-ordered contracts to kill US soldiers, Trump invited Putin to the G-7! What… the… hell ! https://t.co/M0NL9Pr5os
— Michael McFaul (@McFaul) June 27, 2020



Marine in Congress chokes up apologizing to troops for Trump: ‘I’m so sorry this man is your president’

June 27, 2020 By Bob Brigham



Rep. Ruben Gallego choked up on Saturday while apologizing to members of the U.S. military during an appearance on MSNBC.

Gallego was interviewed by MSNBC’s Lindsey Reiser about the blockbuster New York Times story that Russia was offering bounties for the killing of U.S. troops — with President Donald Trump doing nothing in response.

“You’re a veteran, what’s your reaction to this?” Reiser asked the Marine veteran.

“It’s heartbreaking,” Gallego replied.

“I remember being a young guy in Iraq, sometimes feeling abandoned by my government. And right now, there’s a young man or woman in Afghanistan that’s reading this and what are they feeling?” he wondered. “Their own president is hanging them out to dry for some reason, some obsession for Putin.”

“I want to apologize to all of our members of the military, I’m so sorry this man is your president,” Gallego said. “This is not how it should be.”

Watch:

#TraitorTrump and ‘TRE45ON’ trend nationwide as outrage grows: ‘The biggest scandal Trump has faced’
June 27, 2020 By Bob Brigham

President Donald Trump was greeted with outrage on Twitter after returning to the White House from a day of golfing.

The hashtags #TraitorTrump, #TrumpTreason and #TraitorInChief all trended nationwide on Twitter on Saturday. The phrase “TRE45ON” also trended, with the letters “a” and “s” replaced by the number 45, as Trump is America’s forty-fifth president.

Here’s some of the commentary on the bombshell New York Times report that Russia put bounties on US troops in Afghanistan — and Trump did nothing in response:

Everyone in this picture is a patriot, with one exception. @realDonaldTrump apparently knew Putin paid bounties to militants to kill US troops & POTUS did nothing. Actually, it was worse than nothing. Trump last month invited Putin to the G7 summit. Traitorous behavior by Trump. pic.twitter.com/bIaQPvh8Jz

— Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) June 27, 2020

Wow. @realDonaldTrump put his relationship to Putin ahead of the lives of American soldiers. So he’s not only an incompetent, ignorant, misogynistic, sociopathic, lying racist, he flat out committed treason. https://t.co/Bt8coTxHmD
— Ken Olin (@kenolin1) June 27, 2020


Two days ago, Trump laid a wreath at a memorial to American war dead while doing nothing about Russia paying insurgents to kill Americans.
His presidency is a disgrace to anyone who has ever served this country. #TraitorTrump pic.twitter.com/ULAFedDFH9
— The Hoarse Whisperer (@HoarseWisperer) June 27, 2020

Trump could literally go on Fox News, reveal top secret locations of Navy Seals on camera which leads to the Russians killing them and Republicans would still support Trump.#Traitors #TraitorTrump
— Jack (@jackresists) June 27, 2020


Raise your hand if you committed treason by allowing Russia to place a bounty on American troops.#TraitorTrump pic.twitter.com/zfRZkZUp36
— AKA Donald J. Trump (@AKADonaldTrump) June 27, 2020

Trump will try to distract the Russia and #TraitorTrump story by tomorrow or Monday. We will fall for it but I hope people don't forget this man sold out the lives of US soldiers.
— Wajahat "Wears a Mask Because of a Pandemic" Ali (@WajahatAli) June 27, 2020

In this photo, #TraitorTrump salutes a West Point cadet ***knowing that he might send this young man off to die in Afghanistan with the help of his good friend Putin*** (whom he believes over anything US intelligence says). https://t.co/eWIGwvJDXM
— Grant Stern (@grantstern) June 27, 2020

NOTE TO AMERICA'S TROOPS:
Donald only protects troops who are made of metal or stone — and fought for the other side. #TraitorTrump https://t.co/Z58SrAbtcC
— Mrs. Betty Bowers (@BettyBowers) June 27, 2020

While Trump was committing treason he was defending statues of traitors. #TraitorTrump
— Tim Hannan (@TimHannan) June 27, 2020

Trump is a traitor. He is not worth the blood my son left in Afghanistan. #TraitorTrump I have a shirt with a bullet hole I’d like to show all his defenders. I don’t have a big accountbut if any of you do, please retweet.
— Maria Lamping (@maria_lamping) June 27, 2020


The president is a traitor. Who will stand up for our troops? Who will stand up for America? https://t.co/GOa1n5Denn
— Bob Driehaus (@BobDriehaus) June 27, 2020


A white supremacist, a sex offender, and a traitor walk into a bar. The bartender says "What'll it be, President Trump?"#TraitorTrump
— Middle Age Riot (@middleageriot) June 27, 2020

I'm no historical expert on Presidents James Buchanan and Andrew Johnson, generally regarded as the worst before Trump came along, but I'm pretty sure neither was compromised by a hostile foreign power. #TRE45ON
— Zach Wolfe (@zachwolfelaw) June 27, 2020

#TRE45ON The U.S. Commander in Chief learned that Putin put a BOUNTY on American troops and then gave Putin the highest honor possible by inviting him to be his personal guest at the G-7 https://t.co/qP1jsIiaX9

— Venture Capital (@kelly2277) June 27, 2020

Another example of how this man is destroying our country!! To his supporters… Look beyond your politics. Do you want to blindly stand with this man after he is willing to betray the men and women who sacrifice for all of us!!#TRE45ON #TraitorTrump
https://t.co/jz2QsDKE1R
— Jason Lewis (@JasonLewis) June 27, 2020

Keep it going. #TRE45ON pic.twitter.com/Jc7BrgfgEd
— The Lincoln Project (@ProjectLincoln) June 27, 2020

The perfect hashtag for Trump’s legacy: #TRE45ON
— Roland Scahill (@rolandscahill) June 27, 2020


#TRE45ON pic.twitter.com/GOhtRKLX3R
— Ken Olin (@kenolin1) June 27, 2020


"Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort."
Article III, Section 3
US Constitution
FACT: Trump both adhered to our enemies (Russia and Afghan rebels) and gave aid to them.
— Dr. Jack Brown (@DrGJackBrown) June 27, 2020

Donald Trump committed treason.
— Brian Tyler Cohen (@briantylercohen) June 27, 2020

Trump knew for 3 months that Russia was trying to kill US troops in Afghanistan and he said nothing.
He literally acted faster to save the statues of Confederate traitors than American lives. #TraitorTrump https://t.co/ncI33RWU5I
— David Leavitt (@David_Leavitt) June 27, 2020

Last November, Trump used the returning caskets of servicemen killed in Aghanistan as props for a photo op.
This year, he did nothing as Russia paid to have their fellow soldiers killed. #TraitorTrump pic.twitter.com/LEIzQt67ce
— The Hoarse Whisperer (@HoarseWisperer) June 27, 2020

That Russia paid the Taliban to kill US soldiers – then, after CIA told Trump, he *did nothing* but try to reward Russia by bringing them into the G7 – is the biggest story in decades. It doesnt matter what Putin has on Trump. He's a traitor. He deserves prison, not reelection.
— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) June 27, 2020

Donald Trump is a Russian asset. pic.twitter.com/tyrwCjb6Y9
— MeidasTouch.com (@MeidasTouch) June 27, 2020


#ThisIsMyAmerica This servicemember has the heart of a younger generation that knows #BlackLivesMatter as much as white lives do! So many young people hurt to see what #TraitorTrump has done to America. We need young voters to #VoteBiden
Wait for it…pic.twitter.com/3Blcn0Guws
— Truth Matters (@TruthsOverTrump) June 27, 2020

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/06/russia-offered-afghans-bounty-to-kill-u.html

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com2020/06/a-dereliction-of-duty-bombshell-nyt.html


https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/06/trump-administration-has-refused-/to.html

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/06/biden-slams-trump-over-reported.html

Russia Offered Afghans Bounty to Kill U.S. Troops, Officials SayCharlie Savage, Eric Schmitt and Michael Schwirtz,The New York Times•June 27, 2020



Russia Offered Afghans Bounty to Take Down U.S. Troops, Officials Say

A Russian military intelligence unit offered rewards to Taliban-linked militants for killing coalition forces, officials say.

WASHINGTON — 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.

The intelligence finding was briefed to President Donald Trump, and the White House’s National Security Council discussed the problem at an interagency meeting in late March, the officials said. Officials developed a menu of potential options — starting with making a diplomatic complaint to Moscow and a demand that it stop, along with an escalating series of sanctions and other possible responses, but the White House has yet to authorize any step, the officials said.

An operation to incentivize the killing of American and other NATO troops would be a significant and provocative escalation of what American and Afghan officials have said is Russian support for the Taliban, and it would be the first time the Russian spy unit was known to have orchestrated attacks on Western troops.

Any involvement with the Taliban that resulted in the deaths of American troops would also be a huge escalation of Russia’s so-called hybrid war against the United States, a strategy of destabilizing adversaries through a combination of such tactics as cyberattacks, the spread of fake news, and covert and deniable military operations.

American troops at Camp Shorabak in Helmand province, Afghanistan, Sept. 26, 2019. (Jim Huylebroek/The New York Times)

The Kremlin had not been made aware of the accusations, said Dmitry Peskov, press secretary for President Vladimir Putin of Russia. “If someone makes them, we’ll respond,” Peskov said.

Zabihullah Mujahid, a spokesman for the Taliban, denied that the insurgents have “any such relations with any intelligence agency” and called the report an attempt to defame them.

“These kinds of deals with the Russian intelligence agency are baseless — our target killings and assassinations were ongoing in years before, and we did it on our own resources,” he said. “That changed after our deal with the Americans, and their lives are secure and we don’t attack them.”

Spokespeople at the National Security Council, the Pentagon, the State Department and the CIA declined to comment.

The officials familiar with the intelligence did not explain the White House delay in deciding how to respond to the intelligence about Russia.

While some of his closest advisers, like Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, have counseled more hawkish policies toward Russia, Trump has adopted an accommodating stance toward Moscow.

At a summit in Helsinki in 2018, Trump strongly suggested that he believed Putin’s denial that the Kremlin interfered in the 2016 presidential election, despite broad agreement within the U.S. intelligence establishment that it did. Trump criticized a bill imposing sanctions on Russia when he signed it into law after Congress passed it by veto-proof majorities. And he has repeatedly made statements that undermined the NATO alliance as a bulwark against Russian aggression in Europe.

The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the delicate intelligence and internal deliberations. They said the intelligence has been treated as a closely held secret, but the administration expanded briefings about it this week — including sharing information about it with the British government, whose forces are among those said to have been targeted.

The intelligence assessment is said to be based at least in part on interrogations of captured Afghan militants and criminals. The officials did not describe the mechanics of the Russian operation, such as how targets were picked or how money changed hands. It is also not clear whether Russian operatives had deployed inside Afghanistan or met with their Taliban counterparts elsewhere.

The revelations came into focus inside the Trump administration at a delicate and distracted time. Although officials collected the intelligence earlier in the year, the interagency meeting at the White House took place as the coronavirus pandemic was becoming a crisis and parts of the country were shutting down.

Moreover, as Trump seeks reelection in November, he wants to strike a peace deal with the Taliban to end the Afghanistan War.

Both American and Afghan officials have previously accused Russia of providing small arms and other support to the Taliban that amounts to destabilizing activity, although Russian government officials have dismissed such claims as “idle gossip” and baseless.

“We share some interests with Russia in Afghanistan, and clearly they’re acting to undermine our interests as well,” Gen. John W. Nicholson Jr., commander of American forces in Afghanistan at the time, said in a 2018 interview with the BBC.

Though coalition troops suffered a spate of combat casualties last summer and early fall, only a few have since been killed. Four Americans were killed in combat in early 2020, but the Taliban have not attacked U.S. positions since a February agreement.

American troops have also sharply reduced their movement outside of military bases because of the coronavirus, reducing their exposure to attack.

While officials were said to be confident about the intelligence that Russian operatives offered and paid bounties to Afghan militants for killing Americans, they have greater uncertainty about how high in the Russian government the covert operation was authorized and what its aim may be.

Some officials have theorized that the Russians may be seeking revenge on NATO forces for a 2018 battle in Syria in which the U.S. military killed several hundred pro-Syrian forces, including numerous Russian mercenaries, as they advanced on an American outpost. Officials have also suggested that the Russians may have been trying to derail peace talks to keep the United States bogged down in Afghanistan. But the motivation remains murky.

The officials briefed on the matter said the government had assessed the operation to be the handiwork of Unit 29155, an arm of Russia’s military intelligence agency, known widely as the GRU. The unit is linked to the March 2018 nerve agent poisoning in Salisbury, England, of Sergei Skripal, a former GRU officer who had worked for British intelligence and then defected, and his daughter.

Western intelligence officials say the unit, which has operated for more than a decade, has been charged by the Kremlin with carrying out a campaign to destabilize the West through subversion, sabotage and assassination. In addition to the 2018 poisoning, the unit was behind an attempted coup in Montenegro in 2016 and the poisoning of an arms manufacturer in Bulgaria a year earlier.

American intelligence officials say the GRU was at the center of Moscow’s covert efforts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election. In the months before that election, American officials say, two GRU cyberunits, known as 26165 and 74455, hacked into Democratic Party servers, and then used WikiLeaks to publish embarrassing internal communications.

In part because those efforts were aimed at helping tilt the election in Trump’s favor, Trump’s handling of issues related to Russia and Putin has come under particular scrutiny. The special counsel investigation found that the Trump campaign welcomed Russia’s intervention and expected to benefit from it, but found insufficient evidence to establish that his associates had engaged in any criminal conspiracy with Moscow.

Operations involving Unit 29155 tend to be much more violent than those involving the cyberunits. Its officers are often decorated military veterans with years of service, in some cases dating to the Soviet Union’s failed war in Afghanistan in the 1980s. Never before has the unit been accused of orchestrating attacks on Western soldiers, but officials briefed on its operations say it has been active in Afghanistan for many years.

Though Russia declared the Taliban a terrorist organization in 2003, relations between them have been warming in recent years. Taliban officials have traveled to Moscow for peace talks with other prominent Afghans, including the former president, Hamid Karzai. The talks have excluded representatives from the current Afghan government as well as anyone from the United States and at times have seemed to work at crosscurrents with U.S. efforts to bring an end to the conflict.

The disclosure comes at a time when Trump has said he would invite Putin to an expanded meeting of the Group of Seven nations, but tensions between U.S. and Russian militaries are running high.In several recent episodes, in international territory and airspace from off the coast of Alaska to the Black and Mediterranean seas, combat planes from each country has scrambled to intercept military aircraft from the other.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
© 2020 The New York Times Company

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/06/russia-offered-afghans-bounty-to-kill-u.html

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com2020/06/a-dereliction-of-duty-bombshell-nyt.html


https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/06/trump-administration-has-refused-/to.html

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/06/biden-slams-trump-over-reported.html