COLLUSION OR COUPLLUSION?

COLLUSION or COUP-LLUSION?

By Hugh Murray

From the first days after his inauguration as president, there were charges that Donald Trump had won the 2016 election over Democrat Hillary Clinton, through collusion with the Russians. Soon after, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein appointed a Special Counsel, Robert Mueller, to investigate. No specific crime was cited in the order creating the new investigatory section, which would be allocated large funds, so critics deemed it a fishing expedition. After 2 years and limited oversight, unlimited funds, Mueller has found evidence of corruption, but nothing directly linking Russia to the Trump campaign, so far.

The response of some conservative Republicans is that there is solid evidence of collusion with the Russians by a major American politician, but that occurred when Democratic Senator Edward (Ted) Kennedy sought Soviet support for his efforts to derail and sabotage Republican President Ronald Reagan. Reagan sought to defeat “the evil empire.” To do so Reagan wanted America to embark upon a Space Defense Initiative (SDI). This was a space-based missile defense system and a very costly project. Unfortunately for our opponents, the Soviets quickly realized they could not afford to compete with the US in this field.(p. 402) However, the Soviets could try to block the SDI through propaganda. They pressured Western European nations not to allow missiles on their soils, arguing that if they did, they were setting up their own people for massive causalities in case of war. Sen. Kennedy and the Democrats also generally opposed Reagan's proposed SDI, mocking it as “Star Wars.”

Paul Kengor, in his book Dupes, wrote: “The KGB (Soviet CIA) report is dated May 14, 1983, less than two months after Kennedy first ridiculed SDI. KGB head Viktor Chebrikov sent the memo..., directly to General Secretary Yuri Andropov. The subject line read: 'Regarding Sen. Kennedy's request to the General Secretary of the Communist Party [of the USSR] Y. V. Andropov.' It concerned a 'confidential' Kennedy offer to Andropov.”(p. 407)

“According to the KGB memo, Senator Kennedy had conveyed his message to the Soviets through 'his close friend and trusted confident' John Tunney – the same go-between he had used in approaching the Kremlin in March 1980,... Chebrikov said that Kennedy was 'very troubled' by 'the current state of Soviet-American relations,' which the senator attributed not to ...the Kremlin but to 'Reagan's belligerence,... the current threat is do to the President's [Reagan's] refusal to engage any modification to his politics.'”(407)

“...Chebrikov conveyed the U.S. senator's precise offer to the USSR's general secretary: 'Kennedy believes that,..., in the interest of peace, it would be prudent and timely to undertake the following steps to counter the militaristic politics of Reagan.' Step number one...Andropov to invite the good senator to Moscow for a personal meeting... 'The main purpose... according to the senator, would be to arm Soviet officials with explanations regarding problems of nuclear disarmament so they would be better prepared and more convincing during appearances in the USA.'” Kennedy urged that Andropov be interviewed on American television by the likes of Barbara Walters or Walter Cronkite. Kennedy assured the Soviet leader that the senator and his friends would use their influence to get such powerful media people to conduct such television interviews.(408)

“Kennedy indicated he could help organize this media blitz, since he wanted Soviet military and government officials to 'have an opportunity to appeal directly to the American people about the peaceful intentions of the USSR.'”(409)

“The memo concluded with a discussion of Ted Kennedy's political prospects, mentioning that the senator 'wants to run for president in 1988' but also 'does not discount that during the 1984 campaign, the Democratic party may officially turn to him to lead the fight against the Republicans'”(409)

Andropov died shortly after Kennedy's appeal, so nothing resulted from it. Yet, Kengor finds it shocking that the honored American senator, the “Lion of the Senate,” would deem Soviet policy more peaceful than America's. Shocking too, that Kennedy sought the Kremlin's help to “counter” the policies of Pres. Reagan, and weaken the standing of the American president.(411) Kengor adds that the general American media refused to cover the story of the KGB documents and Senator Kennedy when it first appeared the The Times of London in February 1992.(411)

Kengor alludes to an earlier approach by Sen. Kennedy to the Soviets for help. In 1980 Ted Kennedy challenged Democratic President Jimmy Carter for the Democratic nomination for president that year. The Massachusetts senator believed that Carter also was guilty of “belligerence” and of "escalating Cold War tensions.” According to his KGB contact, “Kennedy felt that 'the Carter administration was trying to distort the peace-loving ideas behind [Soviet leader of that time, Leonid] Brezhnev's proposals... and the escalation was fueled by Carter.'” As in the later case of the 1990s, Kennedy's emissary was California Democratic Senator John Tunney, “who declared that Kennedy was approaching the Soviet leader because Kennedy saw it as 'his duty to take action himself.'”(363)

In Michael Pillsbury's The Hundred-Year Marathon...c. 2015, that long-time China expert discusses some of the background to the opening up of China in the early 1970s. “...There were additional factors at work that persuaded Kissinger and ultimately President Nixon to move toward Beijing. While Kissinger was still attempting to discern Chinese intentions, Senator Ted Kennedy was seeking to visit China. The Chinese even mentioned this possibility to Kissinger during his secret trip to Beijing in July 1971, consistent with ...manipulating hawks and doves. Nixon reacted as anticipated and instructed Kissinger to ask the Chinese to invite no other U.S. political figure to visit China before Nixon. Nixon believed, with good reason, that Kennedy was attempting to steal his thunder and become the first American politician to travel to Beijing. Raising the possibility in public speeches of renewed relations with Communist China, Kennedy was putting together what looked to be a foreign policy platform for the 1972 presidential election.”(57)

So it seems as if Sen. Ted Kennedy had a long history of approaches to major Communist governments. Some might contend that his approaches, countering the clearly enunciated policies of the American Presidents, and seemingly endorsing and favoring Soviet peaceful intentions above American “belligerence,” - some might suspect that all of this bordered on treason.

But, consider a little further back in time. Several decades ago a French journalist was having a lunch-time discussion with the new, Cuban strong-man, Fidel Castro. Jean Daniel had been sent as an informal emissary by President John Kennedy to make an attempt to smooth out the rough problems of Cuban-American relations, to try to establish some peaceful relations between the two nations. Their conversation was interrupted when an aide told Castro of an important phone call. Fidel related the news he had just heard to the journalist, President Kennedy has just been shot in Dallas. The Cuban dictator then added, “There goes your mission of peace.” After reflecting a bit, Fidel added, “They're going to blame us.”(Peter Kornbluh, “Kennedy's Last Act: Reaching Out to Cuba,” Unredacted, 20 Nov. 2013)

Why would President Kennedy send a French journalist rather than a regular diplomat to Havana? In the early days of his presidency, Kennedy believed he had been misled by the CIA. A plan to invade Cuba and overthrow the Castro regime had originated during Eisenhower's presidency, and many assumed his vice-president, Richard Nixon, would succeed him. Nixon lost a very close election to Kennedy, but the CIA wanted to go ahead with the plan anyway. They got Kennedy to approve. I can still recall hearing the news on WWL, the 50,000 watt, Jesuit-owned, CBS radio affiliate – the large-scale rebellion in Cuba, reports that Raul Castro may have already been killed, the Castro regime possibly about to collapse, ...In the following days we learned it was all bull, all lies. The US sponsored invasion of the Bay of Pigs in Cuba had gone badly. When it was clear that the Castro regime would defeat the invaders, the CIA and others demanded that Kennedy order air support and possibly troops to oust the Castro regime. Kennedy refused, and was angry because he had been misled about the Bay of Pigs group winning over the Fidelistas. Kennedy said he would smash the CIA into a thousand pieces. We know that relations between Attorney General Robert Kennedy (John's brother) and his subordinate, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, were not cordial. And many of the anti-Castro refugees blamed JFK for the failure of the invasion of Cuba.

Robert Kennedy had for a time served on Sen. Joseph McCarthy's committee that investigated Communist subversion of the US government. Neither Robert nor John were “progressive” Democrats; they were anti-Communists. But as President, John seemed to worry more about the possibility of mutual destruction through nuclear war. He began to suggest peace proposals, as in the American University speech of 10 June 1963.

Yet, during his term, he increased the number of American “advisors” to the military of the South Vietnam government, from several hundred to over 11,000. But what were his intentions? Some say he wanted to withdraw entirely after the 1964 election. But things changed. On 2 November 1963 Ngo Dinh Diem, the President of SVN was killed in a coup, as was his brother, Ngo Dinh Nhu, the number 2 man in the regime. His sister-in-law, Madame Nhu made the cover of Time magazine as she denounced the violent overthrow of the government in Saigon. Diem's very Roman Catholic government was unpopular with many in SVN, but it is unlikely there would have been a successful coup without the support of the American CIA. The agency saw a victory through violent regime change.

There were many Americans who would have been furious had they known JFK was trying to negotiate peace with Castro. Among them was David Ferrie, a pilot who worked both for Carlos Marcello (Mafia boss in New Orleans), and Guy Banister, former FBI man in Chicago, former head of the New Orleans Police Dept., and right-wing activist with connections to various intelligence agencies. Lee Oswald, as a teen, had been in Ferrie's Civil Air Patrol, and may have been encouraged to sign into the Marines through his influence. When back in New Orleans in summer 1963, Oswald worked with Banister to distribute anti-Castro leaflets, and perform other activities to pretend to be a Left-winger. Bottom line, 22 November 1963 in Dallas, President Kennedy was assassinated. The Warren Commission blamed it on a lone-nut Marxist, but demanded that many documents be withheld from the public for 75 years. I assume they were not trying to protect the family of Oswald! No, the purpose of the delay for decades, and the destruction of documents was to protect certain agencies.

Kennedy did not get to smash the CIA into a thousand pieces. Allen Dulles, former head of the CIA, was one of the members of the Warren Commission. Hoover's FBI provided the investigation for the Commission. The New York Times and major media all accepted the conclusions of the Warren Commission. The National Enquirer ran articles alleging conspiracy.

A New Orleanian, I got to attend several sessions of the trial of Clay Shaw for conspiracy to kill Kennedy. Jim Garrison's investigation revealed much more about what was going on in New Orleans in the early 1960s, but witnesses would flee to other states, and Republican Governors Reagan and Rhodes refused to extradite, and federal agencies infiltrated Garrison's prosecution squad, and so on. Moreover, Garrison was unable to present a closing argument nearly as effective as did Kevin Costner in the film, “JFK.”

Though, even at this late date, many refuse to think that a President could be eliminated by the Deep State. Kennedy had made enemies in the bureaucratic deep state of the military, agencies, and others. I think it is clear, JFK was offed by members of the Deep State. It was a coup. We did not invade Cuba, but we did invade Vietnam. That disaster brought second, and more sober thoughts, even by the military.

Ted Kennedy probably suspected that his brother had been killed by the Deep State. He probably was aware that his brother, as president, went beyond the usual diplomatic channels to get his point across. Perhaps, this is why Ted reached out to China and the USSR in strange ways.

If the Deep State staged a coup in the US with the assassination of John Kennedy, what about the Deep State's attempted coup against Donald Trump at the opening of his first term?

Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe spoke on television (CBS "60 Minutes," 17 February 2019) how he and Deputy Attorney General Rob Rosenstein met in the early days of Trump's term. They spoke of deposing the new President, using the 25^th Amendment, meant to remove a president who has a stroke or major health problem. They plotted to do this, though Trump is quite health. They plotted so one might wear a wire, trying to get Trump to say something that might incriminate him. They stressed he fired FBI Director James Comey. So! Trump got Rosenstein to write the memo on why Comey was fired. Trump had every right to fire Comey, and McCabe and Rosenstein. These men were counting which members of the Cabinet might vote to oust Trump and replace him with Vice-president Pence!

Worse, the FBI and other agencies had done nothing to gather evidence to convict former Sec. Of State Hillary Clinton for her misuse of her mobile phones, whereby even classified information was found on the pornographic phone of Hillary Clinton's aide's husband, Anthony Weiner. Many other privileges were granted to Hillary and her entourage, so charges would not be brought. Meanwhile, using Hillary funded anti-Trump scurrilous misinformation, the FBI got warrants from secret FISA courts to justify spying on the Trump campaign. The agency was aiding Clinton and determined to sink Trump. When he surprised them by winning the election legitimately in the Electoral College, then Deep State sought to remove him quickly through the Rob Rosenstein weary wire, and getting the Cabinet to expel Trump. When that failed, Rosenstein plotted a 2^nd method, by appointing Mueller as Special Counsel, not to find a specific crime, but to fish around for anything so Congress could impeach the president. With the help of ex-CIA leader Brennan, ex-national security man Clapper, and other Deep State officials, the resisters and obstructors to President Trump continue to try to evict him from the White House.

The Deep State staged a successful coup in November 1963.  Will the plotters succeed in another coup against Trump?  After all, who should choose the American presidents, the American citizens, or the leaders of the FBI, CIA, etc.?