Playbook: “Well, here we are again. The question hanging over Washington is whether President Trump will veto the National Defense Authorization Act — the Pentagon policy bill that has been signed into law for 59 consecutive years.”

“At issue is whether the United States should consider stripping military bases of their Confederate namesakes. Trump says no. Congress looks like it will say yes, America should no longer honor these men. If it ends up in the bill — which it will — the president says he’ll veto it.”

“In other words, the president says he will side with deceased former Confederate generals over expected bipartisan majorities in the Congress.”

President Trump claimed that reports about suspected Russian bounties on coalition forces in Afghanistan were a “hoax” meant to damage him politically.

Said Trump: “The Russia Bounty story is just another made up by Fake News tale that is told only to damage me and the Republican Party. The secret source probably does not even exist, just like the story itself. If the discredited New York Times has a source, reveal it. Just another HOAX!”

President Trump threatened to veto the defense authorization bill—unless a requirement in it to rename U.S. military bases that honor Confederate leaders is dropped, CNN reports.

The legislation funds the Pentagon and is often one of the few pieces of legislation that Congress can be counted on to pass each year in order to fund the country’s military operations.

Associated Press: “They didn’t like it when then-candidate Donald Trump criticized John McCain for being captured in combat. They were angrier when Trump, as commander in chief, abandoned Kurdish allies in the Middle East. And they were upset again last month when he threatened to deploy troops against American protesters.”

“Trump’s relationship with the nation’s military community has been frequently strained. But just four months before the November election, reports that he either ignored, or was unaware of, a Russian plot to kill U.S. troops could intensify the tension and create new political risks.”

“House Democrats came out of a closed-door White House briefing Tuesday taking swings at President Trump’s response to reports that Russia paid bounties to Taliban-linked militants in Afghanistan to target and kill U.S. troops,” CNBC reports.

Said House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD): “The president called this a hoax publicly. Nothing in the briefing that we have just received led me to believe it is a hoax.”

“I find it inexplicable in light of these public allegations that the President of the United States hasn’t come before the country and assured people that he’ll get to the bottom of whether Russians are putting bounties on the heads of troops, and he’ll do everything in his power to protect US troops.”

— House Intelligence Committee chairman Adam Schiff (D-CA), at a press conference.

“Leaders on the Senate and House Armed Services Committees said Monday that they want answers from the Pentagon and White House about reports that a Russian military intelligence group had paid bounties to kill American troops in Afghanistan,” Stars and Stripes reports.

Said Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-TX): “We need to get to the bottom of it and we need to do it now. Again, this week before Congress leaves on the Fourth of July.”

“Top officials in the White House were aware in early 2019 of classified intelligence indicating Russia was secretly offering bounties to the Taliban for the deaths of Americans, a full year earlier than has been previously reported,” the AP reports.

“The assessment was included in at least one of President Trump’s written daily intelligence briefings at the time, according to the officials. Then-national security adviser John Bolton also told colleagues he briefed Trump on the intelligence assessment in March 2019.”

“The revelations cast new doubt on the White House’s efforts to distance Trump from the Russian intelligence assessments.”

The New York Times confirms Trump also received a written briefing on the bounties in late February.

The intelligence that assessed there was an effort by a Russian military intelligence unit to pay the Taliban to kill US soldiers was included in one of President Trump’s daily briefings on intelligence matters sometime in the spring, CNN reports.

Trump is not known to fully or regularly read the President’s Daily Brief, something that is well-known within the White House.

Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE) told The Hill that Congress needs to get to the bottom of what President Trump was told about Russia offering bounties to Taliban militants to kill coalition troops in Afghanistan, calling for a “proportional response” from the U.S.

Said Sasse: “I’ve been hearing from military families in Nebraska constantly for the last 36 hours and they’re livid. This is a story about the targeting of American men and women in uniform. This is about putting crosshairs on the backs of people who are fighting for our freedom. This is not about short-term politics.”  

Washington Post: Republicans once again face questions over why Trump isn’t tougher on Russia.

“United States intelligence officers and Special Operations forces in Afghanistan alerted their superiors as early as January to a suspected Russian plot to pay bounties to the Taliban to kill American troops in Afghanistan,” the New York Times reports.

“The Pentagon is facing a hemorrhage of talent as senior officials resign amid continued efforts by the White House to purge those perceived as political foes, including the Army lieutenant colonel who testified in the House impeachment hearings,” the New York Times reports.

“The Army this week forwarded to Defense Secretary Mark Esper a list of hundreds of officers who are set to be promoted to the next rank… Included on the list is Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, a decorated combat veteran who served on the staff of the White House’s National Security Council, where he ran afoul of Mr. Trump after testifying against him in the House impeachment hearings.”

Retired Army Brig. Gen. Anthony Tata, who was nominated to become the under secretary of defense for policy at the Department of Defense, promoted conspiracy theories that former CIA Director John Brennan wanted to oust Trump from office, and pushed a bogus conspiracy theory that Brennan sent a coded tweet to order the assassination of Trump in 2018, CNN reports.

Tata also said then-President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama engaged in “borderline treasonous” behavior by expressing their dismay over a Trump presidency during the transition period.

“At least three prominent retired general officers have dropped their support for President Trump’s nominee for the Pentagon’s top policy job, retired Army Brig. Gen. Anthony Tata, over inflammatory tweets he made two years ago on Islam, President Obama and Democratic lawmakers,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“White House officials are revisiting the idea of renaming U.S. military bases that are named after Confederate generals, a move President Trump had previously rejected,” NBC News reports.

“Conversations among White House officials in recent days about renaming the bases have been spurred by a growing recognition in the West Wing that the names of the bases will eventually be changed — with or without Trump’s backing — given widespread support for the idea and the momentum it has gained in Congress even among lawmakers from the president’s own party.”