Tammy Duckworth has harshly criticized Donald Trump for his failure to act on intelligence that Russia has paid for the deaths of American troops and commuting the sentence prison a long-time ally.
The Democratic senator compared the President’s decision to commute Roger Stone’s prison sentence to his inaction on Russian bounties paid to the Taliban in Afghanistan.
“Since the reports came out about Russia’s offer to pay $ for the murder of U.S. troops abroad—which was 18 days ago—Donald Trump has done more to protect his corrupt friends from jail than he has to protect our troops,” Duckworth tweeted.
Since the reports came out about Russia's offer to pay $ for the murder of U.S. troops abroad—which was 18 days ago—Donald Trump has done more to protect his corrupt friends from jail than he has to protect our troops.
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— Tammy Duckworth (@SenDuckworth) July 15, 2020
Trump recently recently commuted the sentence of a staunch ally, Roger Stone. Stone was convicted of seven federal crimes and sentence to three years in prison.
“I was literally hours away from being sent to a Covid-infested prison in violation of the current Bureau of Prisons and DoJ policies,” Stone said of the move.
“He saved my life. And, at least on paper, he gave me a chance to fight for vindication,” Stone said.
Trump has worked to downplay the intelligence claiming Russia paid bounties for the deaths of American soldiers. He initially claimed he hadn’t been briefed but it later emerged the information was in his daily briefing months ago.
“Nobody briefed or told me, Pence, or chief of staff Mark Meadows about the so-called attacks on our troops in Afghanistan by Russians,” Trump said.
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Darragh Roche is a journalist covering U.S. politics and media
