U.S. Intelligence Now Says Story of Russian Bounties on American Troops Likely False

After the media blew up a story about Russian military putting bounties on American troops in an effort to shape a Russian collusion narrative against the administration of President Trump, the U.S. intelligence community now says that story was likely false.

(Via Daily Beast) – [O]n Thursday, the Biden administration announced that U.S. intelligence only had “low to moderate” confidence in the story after all. Translated from the jargon of spyworld, that means the intelligence agencies have found the story is, at best, unproven—and possibly untrue.

[…] According to the officials on Thursday’s call, the reporting about the alleged “bounties” came from “detainee reporting” – raising the specter that someone told their U.S.-aligned Afghan jailers what they thought was necessary to get out of a cage. Specifically, the official cited “information and evidence of connections to criminal agents in Afghanistan and elements of the Russian government” as sources for the intelligence community’s assessment. (read more)