Executive Director of the Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity, Daniel McAdams, believes that the handling of the whistleblower’s complaint appears to be fishy. He presumes that the intelligence community and deep state’s interests are at play.
Sputnik: What’s your take on Dr Paul’s assumption of a possible “CIA coup” against Donald Trump? How did it happen that the US Intelligence Community (IC) decided to go after the elected president of the US?
Daniel McAdams: It’s not that unusual for the US intelligence community – an integral part of the “deep state” – to “go after” an elected president. In fact there is plenty of evidence that the CIA had its fingers deep into the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. If you look at all of the figures around the early stages of “Russiagate” and the larger attempt to deny Donald Trump the office to which he was elected, you will find current and “former” members of the US intelligence apparatus at every turn. Former CIA Director John Brennan has been extremely active both above and below ground trying to undermine the legitimacy of the US president, falsely accusing him of being a traitor for meeting with Russian president Putin. Other members of the US intelligence community like former acting director Mike Morell and former FBI Director Comey have also been active in trying to undermine and remove President Trump.
Sputnik: On 27 September, The Federalist broke that the US intelligence community secretly nixed the requirement of first-hand whistleblower knowledge in a “Disclosure of Urgent Concern” form. In response, the Office of the Inspector General of the Intelligence Community (ICIG) released a statement Monday insisting that the requirements had not undergone any changes. It further noted that although the whistleblower in question had not possessed first-hand knowledge about most of the events happened, “the ICIG did not find that the complainant could ‘provide nothing more than second-hand or unsubstantiated assertions.” Was The Federalist completely wrong to raise the alarm? Was the ICIG’s decision to regard the complaint as “credible” justified, in your opinion (especially given that the whistleblower presented a distorted narrative of the Trump-Zelensky call)?
Daniel McAdams: There are plenty of problems with the Inspector General of the Intelligence Community’s statement. Frankly it makes no sense at all. On one hand it says that the “whistleblower” was handed the proper form explaining the rules, which included the requirement that the information be first-hand. But then in his statement today he contradicts himself, saying that it was no such requirement. Even though it’s right there in his statement! He said that it was possible that some could read the form incorrectly and conclude that first-hand information was required so the form was changed to read that hearsay and second-hand information was also acceptable. Then he claimed the forms were not changed. Something fishy is going on and the IGIC’s statement does not clear the water but makes it far more murky.
Sputnik: What do you think about the timing of the impeachment operation spearheaded by the Dems? Is it mere coincidence that it was kicked off amid AG William Barr/John Durham’s probe into the FBI/CIA/DOJ’s handling of the 2016 investigation into the Trump campaign’s alleged ties with Russia and IG Michael Horowitz’s inquiry into the supposed FISA abuse by FBI/DOJ?
Daniel McAdams: The timing of the impeachment operation is not necessarily tied to Horowitz’s inquiry. In fact there is every reason, based on his past practice, that Horowitz will give a “pass” to wrongdoing as he did with Hillary and Comey. This is just “Russiagate” 2.0. The Democrats and their allies in the deep state are determined to overturn the will of the American people and remove an elected president for phoney charges. This is the real lesson of decades of US deep state-led regime change operations overseas: sooner or later when those with power decide that the American people have chosen the “wrong” person they will spring into action. President Trump, for better or worse, is just not one of “them” so they are determined to get rid of him. Sadly, America is looking more and more like a banana republic.
Excerpt reprinted from SputnikNews.
The Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity is a project of Dr. Paul’s Foundation for Rational Economics and Education (F.R.E.E.), founded in the 1970s as an educational organization. The Institute continues and expands Dr. Paul’s lifetime of public advocacy for a peaceful foreign policy and the protection of civil liberties at home. Visit http://www.ronpaulinstitute.org