In this era of tabloid journalism, where “unnamed” sources of leaked information are considered to have greater credibility than (some) named government officials, the mainstream media has little trouble ginning up a political scandal almost entirely out of whole cloth. Even as it is patently clear that the MSM’s objective is to do everything possible to damage President Donald Trump, “journalists” still feign being concerned for reporting the truth. Thus with this latest Russia bounty “scandal,” the real story is the politicization of the MSM and its unending crusade to paint Trump as a Russian stooge despite strong evidence to the contrary.

On Monday, the Associated Press reported that as far back as March of last year, Trump was briefed on Russia’s “bounty” deal with Taliban militants to kill American soldiers. The AP further asserts that Trump’s then-National Security Advisor John Bolton gave at least one in-person briefing on the intelligence while suggesting at the time that it was not considered “actionable.” Bolton is actually the first named official to be reported as having briefed Trump. Bolton has neither confirmed nor denied it, only offering a coy response: “[Trump] can disown everything if nobody ever told him about it.”

Meanwhile, the White House has stuck to its claim that the president was never briefed on the issue, suggesting that this was due to the fact that the intelligence in question has yet to be verified. As Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman explained, “To date, DOD has no corroborating evidence to validate the recent allegations found in open-source reports. Regardless, we always take the safety and security of our forces in Afghanistan — and around the world — most seriously and therefore continuously adopt measures to prevent harm from potential threats.”

The White House held a meeting with top Republican congressional leaders yesterday and, following the meeting, Texas Congressman Michael McCaul said that while a brief may have been written, the intel was deemed not credible at the time and therefore was not raised to Trump’s attention. McCaul further stated, “If the intelligence review process verifies the reports, we strongly encourage the administration to take swift and serious action to hold the Putin regime accountable.”

White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany sought to add needed context to the story, noting, “The U.S. receives thousands of reports a day on intelligence. There is no consensus within the intelligence community on these allegations. There were dissenting opinions within the intelligence community.” She also claimed that intelligence “would not be elevated to the president until it was verified.”

Representative Jim Banks (R-IN) blasted the Times for using “unconfirmed intel in an ongoing investigation into targeted killing of American soldiers in order to smear the president.” Banks asserted, “The blood is on their hands,” adding, “Now it’s impossible to finish the investigation.”

Predictably, Democrats began calling for congressional hearings yesterday. Even Senator Todd Young (R-IN) joined the chorus, thundering, “I believe that you would have wanted to know this critical intelligence information and be provided with the resources necessary to save the lives of our men and women in uniform. I stand ready to hold any members of your administration accountable for their gross negligence in performing such a grave responsibility.” Memo to Young: The intelligence has yet to be verified as credible.

Once again, it should be obvious to all that this is little other than another political setup aimed at taking out Trump. On the one hand the MSM is spinning the narrative that the commander-in-chief was at best asleep on the job or at worst unconcerned with the welfare of American soldiers, while completely ignoring the fact that Trump has been thus far successful in working to broker a peace deal with the Taliban in order to completely withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan and bring an end to America’s longest war.