'Tre45on' Trends After Report That Trump Knew Putin Put Bounty On U.S. Troops
UPDATE: In April 2021, 10 months after The New York Times, Associated Press and Washington Post reported on U.S. intelligence that Russia had offered secret bounties to the Taliban for the deaths of Americans, the Biden administration said that CIA analysts only have “low to moderate confidence” that the bounty program ever existed.
Critics erupted Saturday after an explosive New York Times story asserting that Russian President Vladimir Putin secretly offered a bounty to Afghanistan militants for American soldiers they killed — and that Donald Trump knew about it.
Both the White House and Putin denied the story Saturday, but it was concerning enough that several critics spoke out. The hashtag “Tre45on” — the 45 here referencing Trump’s status as the 45th president — was trending nationally on Twitter.
Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden that if the report is true, it is a “truly shocking revelation.”
Not only has Trump allegedly “failed to sanction or impose any kind of consequences on Russia for this egregious violation of international law, but Donald Trump has also continued his embarrassing campaign of deference and debasing himself before Vladimir Putin,” said Biden.
He called Trump’s presidency a “gift to Russia.”
Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) called the behavior “traitorous.”
The Times reported Friday that Trump was informed by U.S. intelligence in March that a Russian military intelligence unit offered rewards to Islamist militants last year for successful attacks on American and coalition troops. American intelligence believed that some bounty money was paid, according to the Times.
Despite being informed of the situation, Trump took no action, sources told the Times. Not only that, but he offered to invite Putin to attend the G-7 Summit in September, despite the strong objections of Canada and Britain, the Kremlin said this month.
Sources later confirmed the Times story to The Washington Post and CNN.
Everyone in this picture is a patriot, with one exception. @realDonaldTrump apparently knew Putin paid bounties to militants to kill US troops & POTUS did nothing. Actually, it was worse than nothing. Trump last month invited Putin to the G7 summit. Traitorous behavior by Trump. pic.twitter.com/bIaQPvh8Jz
— Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) June 27, 2020
Veteran journalist Dan Rather indicated the story was not out of the realm of possibility, given Trump’s mysterious devotion to Russia’s president for possible reasons “ranging from craven to treasonous.”
Reporters are trained to look for patterns that are suspicious. And time and again one stands out with Donald Trump. Why is he so slavishly devoted to Putin? There is a spectrum of possible answers, ranging from craven to treasonous. One day I hope and suspect we will find out.
— Dan Rather (@DanRather) June 27, 2020
The never-Trumper GOP Lincoln Project — founded by lawyer George Conway, husband of White House counselor Kellyanne Conway — quickly turned around an ad lashing Trump over the situation. “How can Trump lead America when he can’t even defend it?” it asked.
Putin paid a bounty to kill American soldiers. @realDonaldTrump knew about it but did nothing. How can Trump lead America when he can't even defend it? pic.twitter.com/oEbnc2cWbT
— The Lincoln Project (@ProjectLincoln) June 28, 2020
Former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci said it’s time for Trump “to go,” and called him a “puppet” of Putin.
He is a puppet.
— Anthony Scaramucci (@Scaramucci) June 27, 2020
Time to go. #TRE45ON
— Anthony Scaramucci (@Scaramucci) June 27, 2020
White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany denied in a press briefing that Trump was informed of the bounty on American troops. “The CIA Director, national security adviser, and the chief of staff can all confirm that neither the president nor the vice president were briefed on the alleged Russian bounty intelligence,” McEnany said.
The Russian Embassy said in a tweet that the Times’ reporting was an attempt to create “new fake stories.”
In the absence of reasons to #BlameRussians, @nytimes is there to invent new fake stories.@mschwirtz @EricSchmittNYT @charlie_savage obviously lack information on cooperation between Russia and #US on the Afghan peace process, on Syrian, North Korean, Venezuelan, Iranian agendas pic.twitter.com/tqO7hVRVGv
— Russia in USA 🇷🇺 (@RusEmbUSA) June 27, 2020
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This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.