Powell's comments on it somewhat align here with his Trumpspeak jackass explanation of the bounty issue. Not "fake news", but media hyperbole.

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On Thursday, Powell wouldn’t attack the credibility of the reports, but said the media’s wall-to-wall coverage was “almost hysterical.”

“I know that our military commanders on the ground did not think that it was as serious a problem as the newspapers were reporting and television was reporting,” Powell said in an interview with MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell. “It got kind of out of control before we really had an understanding of what had happened. I’m not sure we fully understand now.”

“It’s our commanders who are going to go deal with this kind of a threat, using intelligence given to them by the intelligence community,” Powell continued. “But that has to be analyzed. It has to be attested. And then you have to go find out who the enemy is. And I think we were on top of that one, but it just got almost hysterical in the first few days.”

Powell went on to describe the priorities of the U.S. Army, and how Russia isn’t one of them right now.

“I don’t think we’re in a position to go to war with the Russians,” Powell said. “I know Mr. [Vladimir] Putin rather well. He’s just figuring out a way to stay in power until 2036. The last thing he’s looking for is a war, and the last thing he’s looking for is a war with the United States of America.”