Just a few days back, the American people were rocked by one of the most disheartening stories they’d heard in some time.
Reports were streaming in from the Middle East that Russian military officials were paying bounties to the Taliban for every American solider that they killed. This wasn’t some fringe sect of the Russian military either. Rather, the bounty scheme was so well known and out in the open that the Pentagon had begun mentioning it to President Trump all the way back in 2019.
On Wednesday, after a series of confusing developments in the case, President Trump declared the whole thing a hoax.
President Trump claimed early Wednesday that reports about suspected Russian bounties on coalition forces in Afghanistan were a “hoax” meant to damage him politically.
“The Russia Bounty story is just another made up by Fake News tale that is told only to damage me and the Republican Party,” Trump tweeted. “The secret source probably does not even exist, just like the story itself. If the discredited @nytimes has a source, reveal it. Just another HOAX!”
Trump has used this “hoax” designation on several occasions previously, including in conversations regarding the RussiaGate investigation undertaken by Special Counsel Robert Mueller.
