Trump's Top Russian Expert Likely Pushed Out Over Reports of Putin Bounties for Dead U.S. Solders

There has been a long string of resignations from the Trump administration of late-- and with the White House's bungling of the coronavirus crisis and the resurgence of the black lives matter movement-- it has gotten little attention.

• The head of DOJ's Criminal Division resigned;
• The Solicitor General resigned;
• The head of DOJ's Criminal Division resigned;
• The top financial person at the Pentagon resigned;
• The top person on international security issues at the Pentagon resigned;
• The top two technology people at the Pentagon resigned; and
• Trump's fourth Russian Director at the National Security Council resigned (Tom Williams, who replaced Andrew Peek, who replaced Tim Morrison, who replaced Fiona Hill).

That's right-- Trump's top Russia expert at the NSC resigned-- the fourth in four years.  And why is that?  Well, it might have something to do with what the shocking new report coming from 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 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 intelligence finding was briefed to President Trump in late March, the officials said. Officials developed a menu of potential options — none of which have been acted upon by Trump.

Trump had a phone call with Putin in early June-- but did Trump bring up the cash bounty allegations?  Nope.  But Trump started lobbying European leaders to let Putin back into the G7, though. Putin can engage in murder for hire on U.S.soldiers but Trump will let him back into the G8.  Remember why Putin got kicked out of the G8?  Because he invaded the Ukraine and seized Crimea.

It’s not clear how many of the 20 Americans who were killed in Afghanistan during 2019 resulted in a payday from Moscow, but militants “are believed to have collected some bounty money."  So let's be clear once again:  Putin is paying cash bounties for dead U.S. soldiers-- and Trump has done nothing about it.