For months before the ambush, the U.S. military had requested more drones or other surveillance aircraft in Niger and additional military medical support, but those requests met resistance from the U.S. ambassador to the country, who was reluctant to increase the American presence in the country, according to a U.S. official briefed on the attack.

In other words, the Trump administration knew U.S. troops were in danger in Niger, and did nothing.

It’s now clear that Donald Trump’s incompetence and inaction directly or indirectly contributed to the deaths of the four U.S. soldiers in Niger. When you throw in Niger’s recently announced military partnership with Russia in the context of Trump’s Russia scandal, and Trump’s bizarre use of a private military contractor for the rescue mission instead of using the military itself, this scandal is just getting started.

This is almost a carbon copy of Benghazi. And the result:

Four Americans dead in Benghazi.

Four Americans dead in Niger.