New revelations stir old questions about Trump and Russia

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/06/30/politics/donald-trump-russia-taliban-phone-calls/index.html

Reports that a Russian military intelligence agency put a bounty on the heads of US troops in Afghanistan launched the President's team into a new cycle of confusion, apparent half-truths and contradictions as a fresh storm raged over Trump's mysterious deference to Moscow and its strongman leader, President Vladimir Putin.

 

Conflicting messages from the President and his press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany, only deepened the intrigue about what is really going on. 

 

None of what they are saying clears up an episode that comes as new reporting for CNN from veteran Washington reporter Carl Bernstein lifts the lid on Trump's desperate flattery of Putin, his ignorance of basic world events, the way he was manipulated by smarter world leaders and his "near-sadistic" -- according to one source -- behavior toward female world leaders such as German Chancellor Angela Merkel.