# Russia secretly offered bounties to kill US Soldiers **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [June 26, 2020, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-secretly-offered-bounties-to-kill-us-soldiers/913291 "2020-06-26T23:25:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![MulderMuffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldermuffin/32/2862_2.png) [@MulderMuffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MulderMuffin)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2020, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-secretly-offered-bounties-to-kill-us-soldiers/913291/61 "2020-06-30T03:11:14Z")
“Cornyn also defended Trump over his assertion that he was never briefed on the intelligence assessment, adding: “I think the president can’t single-handedly remember everything, I’m sure that he’s briefed on. But the intelligence officials are familiar with it, and briefed him.”” It’s a lie. Okay, maybe it’s not a lie, but they never told Trump. Okay, maybe they did tell him, but he can’t remember EVERYTHING, you know. FFS. ---
**Author:** ![DWMarch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwmarch/32/1010_2.png) [@DWMarch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DWMarch)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2020, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-secretly-offered-bounties-to-kill-us-soldiers/913291/62 "2020-06-30T03:16:39Z")
I hope they try to go with that for a defense. “Oh, Russia paying for the murder of US soldiers? Yeah, we forgot.” ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2020, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-secretly-offered-bounties-to-kill-us-soldiers/913291/63 "2020-06-30T12:36:45Z")
It depends on how specifically they can tie specific events to the failure to act. If this were a scandal in isolation, I’d say, yes, he survives. But given the pandemic response and the fact that our economy is in the trash, this might be the knockout punch. It will depend on whether they can link specific incidents and its aftermath to this revelation. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2020, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-secretly-offered-bounties-to-kill-us-soldiers/913291/64 "2020-06-30T12:38:14Z")
If we want to evaluate the strength of a particular country, two questions must be asked, and answered: 1. Do its leaders understand what it means to lead, to be effective leaders? 2. Do its citizens understand what it means to be effective, responsible, mature citizens? So, as it applies to the United States, what do you all think? ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2020, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-secretly-offered-bounties-to-kill-us-soldiers/913291/65 "2020-06-30T13:43:06Z")
When the leader is dumb and mentally ill he can’t lead anything . He would screw up a 1 car funeral procession. ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2020, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-secretly-offered-bounties-to-kill-us-soldiers/913291/66 "2020-06-30T13:57:58Z")
Trump’s fans don’t believe anything that conflicts with their ultra-competent view of him. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2020, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-secretly-offered-bounties-to-kill-us-soldiers/913291/67 "2020-06-30T13:58:04Z")
Stick the current administration in a bus and call it a clown parade. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2020, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-secretly-offered-bounties-to-kill-us-soldiers/913291/68 "2020-06-30T15:58:18Z")
True. But how did he get into the White House in the first place? Who gave the drunken chimpanzee the keys to the corvette? ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2020, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-secretly-offered-bounties-to-kill-us-soldiers/913291/69 "2020-06-30T18:34:24Z")
[NYT has the receipts:](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/30/us/politics/russian-bounties-afghanistan-intelligence.html) > “American officials intercepted electronic data showing large financial transfers from a bank account controlled by Russia’s military intelligence agency to a Taliban-linked account, which was among the evidence that supported their conclusion that Russia covertly offered bounties for killing U.S. and coalition troops in Afghanistan, according to three officials familiar with the intelligence.” ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2020, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-secretly-offered-bounties-to-kill-us-soldiers/913291/70 "2020-06-30T18:42:39Z")
Has Trump started claiming that the people who decided not to tell him have already been fired for incompetence? ---
**Author:** ![John\_Bredin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@John\_Bredin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Bredin)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2020, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-secretly-offered-bounties-to-kill-us-soldiers/913291/71 "2020-06-30T18:43:52Z")
I had images of suitcases of cash exchanged in divey cafes or back alleys _a la_ Miami Vice. 🙂 Wire transfers make it sound much more formal, institutional, and banality-of-evil than that. And transfers into a Taliban bank account tend to bear out **k9bfriender** ’s guess regarding the bounties going to Taliban leaders rather than the triggermen. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2020, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-secretly-offered-bounties-to-kill-us-soldiers/913291/72 "2020-06-30T18:51:12Z")
> [@blindboyard](#): > > This will probably just be another story that gets discredited in a few weeks. > > The story comes from unnamed intelligence sources, who got it from captured militants who were not-tortured. > > A more reliable indicator that the story is untrue would be hard to imagine. Are you coming back to address the further developments? ---
**Author:** ![DoctorJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctorj/32/2904_2.png) [@DoctorJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DoctorJ)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2020, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-secretly-offered-bounties-to-kill-us-soldiers/913291/73 "2020-06-30T18:59:17Z")
If Trump, Putin, the Taliban, Trump’s stooge at DNI, and some jackass at Russia Times all deny something, can there be any doubt that it’s true? If that crew denies that the apocalypse is coming tomorrow, better pack your shit and watch for the horses. ---
**Author:** ![peacelate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/6bbea6/32.png) [@peacelate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peacelate)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2020, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-secretly-offered-bounties-to-kill-us-soldiers/913291/74 "2020-06-30T19:13:29Z")
The troubling aspect is that Trump hasn’t come out and said he would get to the bottom of this. Sure, it could be fake, but he’s outright dismissed it while information is slowly being released that gives the claims some merit. Instead he’s too busy putting 10 year prison sentences on people who throw paint on statues. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2020, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-secretly-offered-bounties-to-kill-us-soldiers/913291/75 "2020-06-30T19:23:44Z")
> [@peacelate](#): > > The troubling aspect is that Trump hasn’t come out and said he would get to the bottom of this. He can’t say that, because that would be admitting he wasn’t on top of everything in the first place. ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2020, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-secretly-offered-bounties-to-kill-us-soldiers/913291/76 "2020-06-30T22:42:38Z")
Russia is sure having some fun now, trolling Trump. > **[Pompeo pushes Iran arms embargo at U.N., Russia says U.S. knee on Iran's neck](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-iran-usa-un/pompeo-pushes-iran-arms-embargo-at-u-n-russia-says-u-s-knee-on-irans-neck-idUSKBN2412TW?il=0)** > > U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo pushed the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday to extend an arms embargo on Iran before it expires in October, prompting Russia to slam Washington's policy toward Tehran as like "putting a knee" to the country's neck. Maybe this will help them get back into the G7, eh? ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2020, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-secretly-offered-bounties-to-kill-us-soldiers/913291/77 "2020-06-30T22:53:22Z")
The Electoral College and a minority of the voters in the election. > [@asahi](#): > > True. But how did he get into the White House in the first place? Who gave the drunken chimpanzee the keys to the corvette? ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2020, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-secretly-offered-bounties-to-kill-us-soldiers/913291/78 "2020-06-30T23:02:25Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > > [@peacelate](#): > > > > The troubling aspect is that Trump hasn’t come out and said he would get to the bottom of this. > > He can’t say that, because that would be admitting he wasn’t on top of everything in the first place. That’s right. Trump can’t ever admit fault. If he says ‘now that I know this, I demand a major investigation’ he is admitting that he failed to ‘know this’ even after multiple intelligence agencies and other nations ‘knew this.’ So the WH approach will be Deny and Attempt To Distract. Now is the time for Hungary (or maybe Turkey) to produce their “proof” that Joe Biden is a pedophile who has taken bribes from the Nigerian radicals planning the armed overthrow of the USA in cooperation with Hillary’s crack troop of Kenyan mercenaries … right? ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2020, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-secretly-offered-bounties-to-kill-us-soldiers/913291/79 "2020-07-01T02:15:08Z")
Yes, he lost the popular vote, but it’s not like he lost it by much. And in the end, this is the republic we have. My point is that Trump is a candidate so awful that he shouldn’t have advanced anywhere in the primaries. But advance he did. Win the presidency he did. And that collective electoral catastrophe happened for many of the same reasons that we’re seeing the current public health catastrophe. ---
**Author:** ![Mike\_Mabes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mike_mabes/32/1782_2.png) [@Mike\_Mabes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mike_Mabes)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2020, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-secretly-offered-bounties-to-kill-us-soldiers/913291/80 "2020-07-01T05:01:38Z")
> **[White House was warned about potential Russian bounties for killing US troops...](https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/30/politics/white-house-russia-afghanistan-bounties-intelligence-2019/index.html)** > > The White House was provided with intelligence in early 2019 indicating Russian actors were offering bounties to kill US soldiers in Afghanistan, more than a year before President Donald Trump claimed he was not briefed on the same threat, according... [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-secretly-offered-bounties-to-kill-us-soldiers/913291.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-secretly-offered-bounties-to-kill-us-soldiers/913291.md?page=5)