In their efforts to spin and distort the shocking news that Trump knew of and did nothing about Russia paying mercenaries to kill American troops in Afghanistan, Fox & Friends’ Steve Doocy suggested that the occupied protest zone (CHOP) in Seattle is a bigger national security threat.
As you probably know by now, The New York Times dropped a bombshell Friday night:
American intelligence officials have concluded that a Russian military intelligence unit secretly offered bounties to Taliban-linked militants for killing coalition forces in Afghanistan — including targeting American troops — amid the peace talks to end the long-running war there, according to officials briefed on the matter.
What’s more, Donald Trump was briefed and did nothing:
The intelligence finding was briefed to President Trump, and the White House’s National Security Council discussed the problem at an interagency meeting in late March, the officials said. Officials developed a menu of potential options — starting with making a diplomatic complaint to Moscow and a demand that it stop, along with an escalating series of sanctions and other possible responses, but the White House has yet to authorize any step, the officials said.
But as per a roundup by Media Matters, “Fox News’ Sunday programming and flagship Monday morning news show portrayed the story purely as a dispute between Trump and The New York Times, as well as Democrats using the story to attack Trump.”
This, ladies and gentlemen, is how Fox News feigns coverage of bad news for Trump. By coincidence, Fox’s spin just happens to mirror Trump’s spin:
Nobody briefed or told me, @VP Pence, or Chief of Staff @MarkMeadows about the so-called attacks on our troops in Afghanistan by Russians, as reported through an “anonymous source” by the Fake News @nytimes. Everybody is denying it & there have not been many attacks on us.....
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 28, 2020
...Nobody’s been tougher on Russia than the Trump Administration. With Corrupt Joe Biden & Obama, Russia had a field day, taking over important parts of Ukraine - Where’s Hunter? Probably just another phony Times hit job, just like their failed Russia Hoax. Who is their “source”?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 28, 2020
But Fox & Friends cohost Steve Doocy went the extra mile for Dear Leader by suggesting that Seattle protesters are a bigger threat to the country. Fox & Friends has been on a tear painting the protesters as enemies of America, so The New York Times bombshell, with evidence that Trump is a real traitor, must have been quite a shock to the lickspittles.
Apparently, Trump’s Fox Friends are still in the denial stage of grief.
More from Media Matters:
And after another segment running the Trump administration’s denials claiming that the raw intelligence about Russian bounties had not been sufficiently confirmed to merit being included in a presidential brief, co-host Steve Doocy cited American casualties in a peculiar segue to the next segment on the ongoing Capitol Hill Occupied Protest (CHOP) zone in Seattle, which has been a recurring subject of Fox News fearmongering.
“By the way, while there have been a number of service personnel killed in Afghanistan, it is unclear whether or not this bounty program, if it exists, actually resulted in any loss of American lives,” Doocy said. “There were, however, two people injured, shot, in Seattle overnight. Near that CHOP zone, once again.”
FACT CHECK: Yesterday, The Times reported, "It is believed that at least one U.S. troop death was the result of the bounties." Also yesterday, The Washington Post reported, “Russian bounties offered to Taliban-linked militants to kill coalition forces in Afghanistan are believed to have resulted in the deaths of several U.S. service members.”
So in his zeal to spin for Trump – and drum up hate for protesters - Doocy either lied or didn’t bother to check the latest reporting.
You can watch Doocy smear American citizens as a bigger national threat than Russia hiring mercenaries to kill U.S. troops below, from the June 29, 2020 Fox & Friends, via Media Matters.
