Ray McGovern Rejects Russiagate in Dennis Bernstein Interview
Channel: TruthTroubadour
Date: 2018-09-30

Ray McGovern with KPFA Flashpoints host Dennis Bernstein in Fellowship Hall, Berkeley, CA, Sept 28, 2018. Ray McGovern was a CIA analyst for 27 years who served as the Daily Presidential Briefer for four Presidents. He is a founding member of VIPS (Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity). “Russiagate” Segment Transcript, No Lies Radio Report by Vic Sadot begins with Ray McGovern saying that he wrote to President George H W Bush, Sr January 2003 to ask him to explain to his son, President George W Bush, Jr how dangerous the NeoCons could be to US National interests: The reason why you didn’t let the Crazies like Bolton or the rest of them there, Wolfowitz. Why you kept them at mid-level jobs so they couldn’t do any real harm to the country. Please tell him that! It was January 13th or so, 2003. He wrote back and said, Ray I too had some concerns about that. I don’t think its any problem. I trust my son’s judgment. I think its gonna be fine, you know. That was 2 weeks before they invaded Iraq, and you know the rest of that. So! There are certifiably crazy people! Now why, if Trump wants to have a decent relationship with Russia, which I applaud; People say, Well, how can you say anything like 'applaud' in the same sentence with Trump? A broken clock is right how many times a day? Two! Here it is: Korea and Russia. There’s no reason why we can’t have a more decent relationship with Russiam except for these military, industrial, congressional, intelligence, media. Media is the big new element there. DB: Ray, you now establish your credentials explaining you believe that Trump is the worst President in the history of the world. But can you say for sure that if Hillary Clinton was elected President, that it actually could have been more dangerous, based on her projection of the kind of foreign policy and encounter she was looking for with Russia through a No Fly Zone? RM: No, I can’t say that for sure because I don’t believe it to be the case. I was with Julian Assange three days before the election in that Ecuadoran Embassy. He just finished pouring his guts out to get the information out: Legitimate, accurate, bona fied information! Not only about the Democratic National Committee, but all the other stuff that people kept sending him. So I said, What do you think about the election? He said, Well, you know the Germans say it is a choice between the plague and cholera. I was on my way to Germany, and I was there the next day. I was there during the election. If you think the people running the talk shows were befuddled in the United States, you should have seen the Germans! They’re like: Was zur Hölle ist los? But anyhow, they say, Es ist eine Wahl zwischen Pest und Cholera! It is a choice between the plague and cholera! Now, I thought with Hillary it was much more likely to get us into a war with Russia. But you know…” DB: “And that’s correct. You should let people know that that was your expertise when you were uh worked in intelligence in your time with the CIA. You were dealing with the Soviet Union. That is your expertise.” RM: “Yeah! My graduate degree is in Russian Studies, and I worked the Soviet foreign policy branch back, way back then, back in the day… So and as I looked at this, I was really really happy to be able to vote for Jill Stein… Really, really happy! (Applause) But you know just maybe I’ll take advantage of this opening here. I think I know something about Russian leaders. And I have this picture of Vladimir Putin sitting around with his friends, you know, watching the campaign and saying, My God! Look at this! This guy Trump is something else! He’s unpredictable! And he brags about being unpredictable! Ah! This is just the guy I want on the other side of the Atlantic with his fingers on the nuclear codes! Yeah! Do everything you can to help him win! Yes, of course, if there is one thing that a Russian or Soviet leader would hope for in a US. President it is predictability. And on that score even Hillary was better than Trump, at least from their point of view. And the other thing is, you know, the notion that Putin, like everyone else, looking at the campaign and reading the polls, the notion that he had a better idea of whether Trump could win, I mean, that is outlandish! I mean, he thought she was going to win hands down. So what’s the percentage, if she’s going to win hands down, what’s the percentage in getting your intelligence people, say: Hey! You know, why don’t you hack into the DNC anyway. See what you find just for fun. She would find out, for sure, and there would be hell to pay! There’d be an even worse relationship with Russia. So those are sort of conceptual reasons why I could never buy Russiagate. As many of you know, we can prove forensically, forensically that there was no Russian hacking. And what was given to Julian Assange from the DNC was on a thumb drive. And we think we know who did it. And it will come out eventually. But I hope sooner rather than later!”