The Federalist published a scathing and damning report on Rep. Liz Cheney who clearly fueled the false news story about Russia placing bounties on U.S. troops in Afghanistan. It wasn’t true and the U.S. intel community acknowledged that fact. It was “unproven or potentially false.”
Countless stories were published to trash the President as he prepared for the removal of troops from Afghanistan after a 19-year pointless war. Cheney was behind many of them.
The Federalist does an excellent job of pointing to Liz Cheney as the biggest purveyor of this fake news. They say she wanted to hurt President Trump and continue the war in Afghanistan.
“The viral public post below generated a series of news stories in major publications including Axios and The Hill, and was cited in dozens of others while catching airtime on national networks as an admonishment to the president of her own party,” Tristan Justice writes at The Federalist.
If reporting about Russian bounties on US forces is true, the White House must explain:
1. Why weren’t the president or vice president briefed? Was the info in the PDB?
2. Who did know and when?
3. What has been done in response to protect our forces & hold Putin accountable?— Liz Cheney (@Liz_Cheney) June 28, 2020
Cheney also wrote for Politico just two days later. In her article titled, “Cheney takes on Trump,” she wrote, “in her latest rebuke of Trump, Cheney openly questioned whether the president was aware of reports that the Russians offered Afghan militants bounties to kill U.S. troops and demanded the administration take a more aggressive posture toward the Kremlin.”
On June 29, Cheney released a joint statement with Texas Republican Rep. Mac Thornberry perpetuating the claims. These were the claims that U.S. intelligence eventually conceded were a fake news story after Trump left office.
Watch:
America’s adversaries should never question the will of the United States government or the American people to defend our interests, to protect the security of our nation, to protect our Armed Forces, and to respond when attacked or threatened. pic.twitter.com/czl22H8hrd
— Rep. Liz Cheney (@RepLizCheney) June 30, 2020
Cheney also pursued an ulterior motive to advance an interventionist foreign policy by amplifying the story alongside Democrats, as chronicled here by Glenn Greenwald in the Intercept. The at-large Wyoming congresswoman capitalized on the report of Russian bounties to sponsor an amendment with Colorado Democratic Rep. Jason Crow to prevent the White House from reducing the number of troops in Afghanistan to below 8,000, action the Trump administration was actively preparing to finalize.
That bill, fortunately, was not passed.
Subscribe to the Daily Newsletter
wpDiscuz
