NYT: Russians paid Afghans to kill American troops

[Dill]

In claiming that the information was not provided to him, Mr. Trump has also dismissed the intelligence assessment as “so-called” and claimed he was told that it was “not credible.” The White House subsequently issued statements in the names of several subordinates denying that he had been briefed.

The White House press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany, reiterated that claim on Monday and said that the information had not been elevated to Mr. Trump because there was a dissenting view about it within the intelligence community.

But she and other administration officials demurred when pressed to say whether their denials encompassed the president’s daily written briefing, a compendium of the most significant intelligence and analysis that the intelligence community writes for presidents to read. Mr. Trump is known to often neglect reading his written briefings.

And yet . . .

Intelligence about the suspected Russian plot was included in Mr. Trump’s written President’s Daily Brief in late February, according to two officials, contrasting Mr. Trump’s claim on Sunday that he was never “briefed or told” about the matter.

Trump Got Written Briefing in February on Possible Russian Bounties, Officials Say
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/29/us/politics/russian-bounty-trump.html

The moment the president received the briefing, he was involved in the decision-making chain about what to do with that intel--he was the top of the chain in fact.

If he "forgot" or if he personally decided the intel was "not credible" so he would not have to act on it, that is gross dereliction of duty. To repeat--unlikely Trump was "told" the intel was not credible. More likely that he "decided" it was, if someone mentioned a "conflict" among those assessing prisoner testimony at one stage of the process. That was a quick out.

Public action action and a private word to Putin back in Feb. could have forced the Russians to decide the program was too costly in political and economic terms, and forced them to withdraw it.  So far as I can tell, it continues to the present. Were any Americans killed by such targeted bombs in March, April,, May and June?