The Daily Beast

This is a man helped into office by our enemies, who chose to put those enemies before his country. Selling us out, putting us at risk and sacrificing our lives is what he does.

David Rothkopf
Published Jun. 30, 2020 6:40PM ET

We have reached the point that not only do Donald Trump’s scandals, crimes and abuses anger and disturb us, but they begin to boggle our minds. There is almost too much to take in. Few instances of our president disgracing his office illustrate this so well as the newly exposed scandal concerning the bounties Russian military intelligence put on the heads of American and allied troops in Afghanistan

The bounties Russian military intelligence put on the heads of American and allied troops in Afghanistan is not an isolated incident but one linked to multiple on-going patterns of wrongdoing, corruption, incompetence and unfitness that extend throughout the entire Trump presidency and even into his campaign for the office.

The facts behind this case are still emerging, but we know a few key details from reliable accounts in multiple trusted news organizations. The White House learned of the Russian military intelligence program to offer cash bounties to the Taliban for kills of Americans or our allies early in 2019. Then National Security Advisor John Bolton personally briefed the president last year on the intelligence detailing the Russian program. This year, reports on the program appeared in the President’s Daily Brief on at least two occasions. Yet Information about the Russian bounty program was not shared with the congress, as the law mandates.

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