McCaskill: Russia-Taliban Bounty Story ‘Makes Benghazi Look Like Playing with Toys’

Tuesday on MSNBC’s “Deadline,” network political commentator and former Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) commented on the severity of the reports that intelligence officials said Russian operatives offered cash payments to Taliban-linked militants to kill American troops in Afghanistan.

McCaskill said, “Let’s look at this. at 1:00 this afternoon, the president’s press representative said he still hadn’t been briefed. Now, let that sink in. He’s been playing golf. He’s been tweeting stuff, but he hasn’t said, ‘Hey, I need to get to the bottom of this. This is really important. Our enemy, Russia, is putting a price on the heads of our military. Now let’s think about what’s going on this afternoon in addition to that. They’re doing a briefing at the White House for Republicans only. That is unheard of at moments like this. It’s the United States of America and one of the few places that we’ve managed to keep it united is support for our troops.”

She added, “This should be a bipartisan briefing. If you don’t want the whole Senate, it should certainly be the Intelligence Committee, with Gina Haskell answering questions. It should certainly be the armed services committee with Esper answering questions. It should certainly be the foreign relations committee with Pompeo answering questions. And it should be Republicans and Democrats. But the notion that they are asking the Republicans to run up to the White House to get their political instructions, to learn how to lie for this president at a moment that Putin has the price on the heads of our military in Afghanistan. This is a scandal — I mean, they wanted to make a big deal about Benghazi? This makes Benghazi look like playing with toys. This is a big deal and they are not treating it like it’s a big deal.”

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