THAT condolence call. Plus: Why were those soldiers in Niger? Were they seeking "the Grail"?

(Note: The latter part of this post contains some original research into the Niger incident. I hope readers will pass it along to others.)

As you no doubt know by now, congresswoman Frederica Wilson reported that Donald Trump offered insensitive words to Myeshia Johnson, the widow of Sgt. La David T. Johnson. No-one should be surprised: Trump never says the right thing. It's really quite remarkable: Despite being one of the greatest con artists in history, Donald Trump never says the right thing.

Predictably, Trump claims that Congresswoman Wilson lied about the conversation, as did -- apparently -- all other ear-witnesses. (He was on speakerphone.) Trump yells "Liar!" at lots of people: The mainstream media, the former (Republican) director of the FBI, as well as an entire parade of women who accuse him of Weinstein-esque behavior, one of whom has brought suit against him. Why have so many people offered false testimony about Donald Trump? No other president has had to endure a nationwide conspiracy to break the ninth commandment.

One account of this scandal stands out for its surprising lack of bias, considering the source. I had expected Sputnik to offer a Trump-friendly version of these events -- but as it turns out, the Russian site did a decent job.

Billions and billions. It's useful to remind ourselves of certain basics. From Kurt Eichnewald:

Diff tween what Trump lies he's worth ($10 bill), vs. what Forbes 400 shows hes worth $3.1B, is more than worth of bottom 330 billionaires. Seriously, what kind of billionaire is so insecure that he has to lie that he's worth more than triple his actual worth? Wait...I know...a billionaire who, if he put his inheritance stock mutual fund, would be worth $17 bill more. IOW, Trump's biz "skills" cost him $17b.

One of Eichenwald's readers adds that Paris Hilton is a better capitalist than Donald Trump. I say this in all seriousness: I'd rest a lot easier if Paris were the president right now.

Is "the Grail" in Niger? Last night, Rachel Maddow opined that "condolence-gate" began as Trump's tasteless effort to divert attention away from a key question: Just why were those four soldiers killed in Niger?

We've been told, vaguely, that those four were part of an effort to combat ISIS.

U.S. officials said they believe extremists linked to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) were responsible for the attack about 120 miles north of Niamey...

Odd. I can't find any previous stories indicating that ISIS had a presence in that country. (Granted, my internet searching was cursory, but still.)

Now, there are plenty of stories which speak of Boko Haram in Niger, but Boko Haram is not ISIS.

Niger is also home to a group called AQIM, or Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, which uses a black flag similar to the one used by ISIS. AQIM's main goal is the creation of a militant Islamic state in Algeria; one might say that they have transplanted the basic idea of ISIS to another location. Nevertheless, this group has traditionally been considered an offshoot of Al Qaeda, not ISIS. Since several news stories about the Niger disaster have (vaguely) referenced an Al Qaeda tributary, I will presume (until given reason to think otherwise) that AQIM is the true name of the group we're dealing with.

Among the items acquired by AQIM are SA-7 surface-to-air missiles, which the Pentagon refers to as the SA-7 Grail. This AP story indicates that these missiles came from Libyan stores. For more, see here:

The SA-7 GRAIL (Strela-2) is a man-portable, shoulder-fired, low-altitude SAM, with a high explosive warhead and passive infrared homing guidance. The SA-7a has an effective range range from 800 m to 3.2 km and a kill zone between 15 and 1500 meters in altitude, with a speed of about 430 meters per second (Mach 1.4). The SA-7 Grail is able to destroy all aerial targets flying at low altitude such as combat helicopters, low-flying fighter aircraft and UAV.

Back in 2015, there was speculation that these missiles were used to bring down a Russian airliner flying over Egypt. (Remember that story?)

My guess is that those Special Forces operatives had intelligence indicating that "the Grail" was in Niger. Their mission, in effect, would have been to destroy the Grail.

If my guess is right, why would Trump seek to avoid talking about the details? I have a theory about that.

As the Palmer Report pointed out, Niger and Russia signed a military cooperation agreement not long ago; one should also keep in mind that a Russian airliner was attacked in 2015. Therefore, it seems possible that this entire mission was conducted at the behest of Trump's Russian friends. It may even be the case that the Russians -- not the French (as has been reported) -- helped locate the body of Sgt. Johnson.

For obvious reasons, Donald Trump would not want any reports of Russian/American cooperation to appear in the headlines.