Russian Bounty for American Dead: Day 5

On June 26th, the New York Times reported that Russian intelligence had paid the Taliban and associated criminals in Afghanistan to kill American soldiers. According to the Times story, Donald Trump was informed of this earlier this year.

See no evil

Trump’s response has been to 1) say he didn’t know about it, 2) claim that it is all a hoax, 3) state that the veracity of the information is questionable. These, so far, are his excuses for taking no action against Putin. All of these are questionable excuses, but all of them rely on human error: White House aides were too intimidated by Trump to share bad news about Putin; US intelligence personnel failed to flag the information to the appropriate superiors; there were a series of miscommunications about the validity of the report. A comprehensive timeline of events is found here.

Today, July 1st, marks the fifth day since the Times report. Let’s assume that Trump’s excuses for not acting before June 26th are accepted by the majority of Americans. The question is: why, after nearly a week, has Trump done nothing in response? The New York Times reported last night that intelligence sources confirmed that there were financial transactions between the Russians and the Taliban. This is no longer circumstantial evidence. This is proof of Russian malice against the United States. Putin has American blood on his hands and Trump has done nothing.

As commander in chief, Trump has the sworn duty to protect Americans. This includes American soldiers in Afghanistan. Why has Trump done nothing in the last week? Why hasn’t the US ambassador to Moscow been recalled? Why is it taking so long to take action?

Trump would love for the focus to be on what he didn’t do before June 26th. He can obfuscate and create an atmosphere of plausible deniability, even claim that the leaks to the New York Times have now impaired the intelligence services because now we’ll never know whether the story is true. All the while confusing voters and stymying Congress in its oversight capacity. This is not the Mueller report. This is not withholding funds from Ukraine. This is different, and it is far worse.

The focus needs to be on the present: why, after confirmation of money payments, is Trump still clinging to the notion that Putin did not order these contract killings?

Putin, for his side, cannot possibly claim innocence. As a former KGB operative, he has tight control over Russia’s intelligence apparatus. If Putin claims he did not know, then he will be exposed as weak, which would be political suicide. Putin can only hope that Trump continues to shape the narrative to their advantage.

Trump cannot be allowed to drive the narrative. It has been nearly a week since the American public learned of this Russian duplicity. It is past time for Trump to either take action, or step down from the presidency.