Russia Secretly Offered Afghan Militants Bounties to Kill U.S. Troops - Trump has known for months

[President Johnson]

To be honest, if I was leader of any Western country and would find out, and it would be proven, I would impose massive sanctions on Russia. I would already have in response to interference in elections in the US and various European countries. Putin is a thug he only understands strength and determination. I would obviously prefer to have a good relationship with Moscow, but unless the Kremlin stops being a bad actor under undermining the Western alliance, there needs to be serious retaliation. If Putin thinks the Chinese are a better partner, he should go ahead to find out they will rip him off as well.

Hopefully we can find out next year what kind of stuff Putin has about Trump that makes "Mr. Tough guy" to be such a weak leader. I hope Joe Biden will be tough on Russia in concert with Western allies. Also hope Merkel then gets replaced by someone more tough on Putin.

[President Johnson]

If it turns out to be 100% correct and Trump learned but didn't do anything about it, would this be grounds for charges of treason? I actually think so.

Kinda ironic he recently accused Obama of treason for "spying on Trump Tower". Needless to say: Without any proof.

[President Johnson]

Hopefully this is Trump's Iranian hostages moment.

If true, it would be much worse. Jimmy Carter would not have accepted stuff like this to happen. No president from either party would have.

[President Johnson]

I'm struggling to understand what the point of these bounties even is. What does this even acomplish? This action looks more petty than results oriented.

1. Drive up the costs for the US to stay in Afghanistan and damage US prestige by making it look like we're losing yet another war to low-tech peasants/farmers.

2. Payback for the US supplying Afghans with arms against the Soviets in the 80s.

In addition to that, to demonstrate power. That Putin can de facto do whatever he wants without paying price since there is inept president in the White House who may be in Putin's bag for one reason or another. I'm not sure the is some "master strategy" behind it. Putin is overrated as a strategist, but he's not nearly as inept as Trump.

[President Johnson]

This was pretty obvious a ploy to derail the Afghan withdrawal and Trump’s electoral chances.

While I thought the story could very well be true, you're very likely right here.