Opening Salvos of Coup Against Trump

U.S. Intelligence Services continue to undermine the democratically elected president they are pledged to serve.

Written by Brian Kalman exclusively for SouthFront

Rogue elements of the U.S. intelligence services are waging a clandestine war against the very president they are pledged to serve, in a blatant effort to refute the will of the American people and continue the disastrous policies of the Obama administration. This organized act of treason is abhorrent and should both frighten and enrage the American people. We are witnessing an out of control group of unknown conspirators, utilizing the vast resources of the nation’s intelligence apparatus, much of it incompatible with the proper functioning of a free society, to undermine and overthrow the highest members of the executive branch.

Michael Flynn

National Security Advisor Michael Flynn resigned from his position as a chief advisor to President Trump on Tuesday. It is no secret that Flynn was no friend to the Obama administration, being a vocal opponent of that administration’s disastrous foreign policy initiatives in the Middle East. He had a distinguished career in the U.S. Army, eventually earning the top spot as the Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency. He was fired from this position by President Barack Obama after testifying before Congress, where he gave testimony at odds with Obama administration assertions regarding the threat posed by ISIS. Flynn truthfully stated that the Obama administration lead a concerted effort to aid the rise of ISIS in an attempt to use the group to undermine and overthrow the Assad regime in Syria. The administration had been portraying the rise of ISIS as an unforeseen event that caught the numerous intelligence services, the State Department, and the White House completely by surprise. The entire world knows now that Flynn gave truthful testimony, and that the Obama administration was actively nurturing and aiding ISIS and other Islamic terrorist groups in the Middle East and North Africa.

U.S. FBI Director James Comey, CIA Director John Brennan, Director of U.S. National Intelligence James Clapper, DIA director U.S. Army Lt. General Michael Flynn, and National Counterterrorism Center Director Matthew Olsen testifying before Congress on February 4, 2014. Only General Flynn was removed from his position for having the integrity to tell the truth.

Although the operatives that are leaking classified telephone intercepts conducted by the National Security Agency are clearly breaking the law, the only wrong doing that Flynn is accused of is that he allegedly lied to Vice President Pence when asked if he had spoken to Russian diplomats, and the absurd claim by some Democrats, and parroted by the likes of the Washington Post and New York Times, that he has violated the draconian Logan Act. The Logan Act was signed into law in 1799, by the increasingly paranoid and unconstitutional administration of President John Adams, yet the law remains in effect to this day. Last amended in 1994, the Logan Act states:

“Any citizen of the United States, wherever he may be, who, without authority of the United States, directly or indirectly commences or carries on any correspondence or intercourse with any foreign government or any officer or agent thereof, with intent to influence the measures or conduct of any foreign government or of any officer or agent thereof, in relation to any disputes or controversies with the United States, or to defeat the measures of the United States, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both.

This section shall not abridge the right of a citizen to apply himself, or his agent, to any foreign government, or the agents thereof, for redress of any injury which he may have sustained from such government or any of its agents or subjects.”

Adams also approved the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798 which resulted in the stiffening of immigration requirements, making it harder for new immigrants to vote, and giving the federal government greater powers to deport foreigners. The Sedition Act was used to stifle decent and imprison opponents of the Adams administration by assigning fines and imprisonment for acts, including written opinions, which might foment unrest or undermine the authority of the federal government.  The Sedition Act states:

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled. That if any persons shall unlawfully combine or conspire together, with intent to oppose any measure or measures of the government of the United States, which are or shall be directed by proper authority, or to impede the operation of any law of the United States, or to intimidate or prevent any person holding a place or office in or under the government of the United States, from undertaking, performing, or executing his trust or duty: and if any person or persons, with intent as aforesaid, shall counsel, advise, or attempt to procure any insurrection, riot, unlawful assembly, or combination, whether such conspiracy, threatening, counsel, advice, or attempt shall have the proposed effect or not, he or they shall be deemed guilty of a high misdemeanour, and on conviction before any court of the United States having jurisdiction thereof, shall be punished by a fine not exceeding five thousand dollars, and by imprisonment during a term of not less than six months, nor exceeding five years; and further, at the discretion of the court, may be holden to find sureties for his good behaviour, in such sum, and for such time, as the said court may direct.

SECTION 2. And be it further enacted, That if any person shall write, print, utter, or publish, or shall cause or procure to be written, printed, uttered, or published, or shall knowingly and willingly assist or aid in writing, printing, uttering, or publishing any false, scandalous and malicious writing or writings against the government of the United States, or either House of the Congress of the United States, or the President of the United States, with intent to defame the said government, or either House of the said Congress, or the said President, or to bring them, or either of them, into contempt or disrepute; or to excite against them, or either or any of them, the hatred of the good people of the United States, or to stir up sedition within the United States; or to excite any unlawful combinations therein, for opposing or resisting any law of the United States, or any act of the President of the United States, done in pursuance of any such law, or of the powers in him vested by the Constitution of the United States; or to resist, oppose, or defeat any such law or act; or to aid, encourage or abet any hostile designs of any foreign nation against the United States, their people or government, then such person, being thereof convicted before any court of the United States having jurisdiction thereof, shall be punished by a fine not exceeding two thousand dollars, and by imprisonment not exceeding two years.

The Sedition Act was used to fine and imprison writers, journalists, and even a Congressman of Vermont, Matthew Lyon, who wrote a letter critical of President Adam’s administration. The Sedition Act is obviously in open violation of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and was allowed to expire when Thomas Jefferson was elected president and assumed the office in 1801. The utter hypocrisy of intelligence officials flagrantly violating a multitude of laws meant to prevent the leaking of classified information in order to compromise an acting National Security Advisor, by attempting to show that he violated the Logan Act, is one matter. The hypocrisy of the establishment, including their propaganda servants at the Washington Post and the New York Times, in citing a law that was passed along with some of the most xenophobic, anti-immigrant laws ever enacted by the federal government, as grounds for charging Michael Flynn with a felony, when they themselves have been attacking President Trump and his administration for his attempts to limit the immigration and travel of persons from seven nations where radical Islamic terrorism has torn society apart and lead to failed states or war, is even more outrageous.

The same politicians that allowed the Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, to avoid any penalties for lying to Congress while under oath concerning an intelligence program deemed to be illegal, are now calling for Flynn’s prosecution. Clapper wasn’t even asked to resign. I am sure he will be collecting a substantial pension for all of his years of service spying on his fellow Americans, and will soon be making millions as a lobbyist or as a consultant to the agency that he once worked for. Michael Flynn, on the other hand, who lost his job for telling Congress the truth, is scapegoated and persecuted. What a sad joke.

Vice President Joe Biden administering the oath of office to John Brennan on March 8th, 2013. He placed his left hand on an original draft copy of the U.S. Constitution which predated the ratification of the “Bill of Rights”.

Should the public ouster of Michael Flynn be a surprise to anyone? Not really. John Brennan clearly threatened President Donald Trump in a very public fashion, in a televised interview on Fox News that aired January 15^th. The threat was veiled, but was very clear to anyone with an understanding of Brennan’s demeanor and infamous history. John Brennan, the man who refused to be sworn in as Director of the C.I.A. with a Bible. Instead, he placed his left hand on an early copy of the Constitution that did not yet include the first ten amendments known as the “Bill of Rights”. In hindsight, this was an extremely important fact, as he went on to spend his tenure as head of the C.I.A. violating the inalienable rights of his fellow Americans. He very clearly does not recognize the inalienable rights of Americans that are at the very foundation of our society and our Republic. In the Fox News interview Brennan stated:

“I think Mr. Trump has to understand that absolving Russia of various actions it has taken in the past number of years is a road that he needs to be very, very careful about moving down.”

“Spontaneity is not something that protects national security interests and so therefore when he speaks or when he reacts, just make sure he understands that the implications and impact on the United States could be profound,”

“The world is watching now what Trump says and listening very carefully. If he doesn’t have confidence in the intelligence community, what signal does that send to our partners and allies as well as our adversaries?”

“There is no basis for Mr. Trump (notice he does not use the honorific President Elect here) to point fingers at the intelligence community for ‘leaking’ information that was already available publicly,”

While John Brennan’s personal threats against President Trump may have gone over some people’s heads, the comments by Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY) on MSNBC just nine days earlier, were very clear at face value, but more importantly, for what they implied:

“Let me tell you, you take on the intelligence community, they have six ways from Sunday at getting back at you.”

“So even for a practical, supposedly hard-nosed businessman, he’s being really dumb to do this.”

This is a very chilling admission by the Senate Minority Leader and a man that has been part of the political establishment since 1975. Here is a veteran member of the legislative body that is tasked with the oversight of the executive branch, openly acknowledging what everyone in the world should know by now. The intelligence agencies of the U.S. are accountable to no one, and powerful enough and vindictive enough to destroy anyone. Even the President of the United States. Just look at the example of President John F. Kennedy and Senator Robert Kennedy. The Constitutional Republic of the United States operates at the whim of the C.I.A. and an overarching security apparatus that is totally unaccountable to anyone.

So what does President Trump do now? How should he respond to the opening salvo of this soft coup? He needs to move swiftly and decisively to retaliate against both the intelligence agencies and the fifth columns within his own administration. Within 24 hours he should remove all senior leadership at the C.I.A., N.S.A., and D.I.A. as well as the compromised Director of the F.B.I. President Trump needs to purge the establishment operatives and Obama loyalists from the intelligence community. Any ill effects that a purge might have on the national security of the nation, are less dire than the implications of the overthrow of a democratically elected American administration.

Chief of Staff Reince Priebus has always been an establishment loyalist, dedicated to obstructing Donald Trump throughout his candidacy, and his efforts continue. Trump has tried to use Priebus as a unifying factor to solidify the Republican Party and to leverage Priebus’s many political contacts. He also embraced the strategy of keeping his greatest enemies as close to him as possible. It is rumored that Mr. Priebus is the source of many of the harmful leaks to the press, and is leading the effort of appointing establishment Republicans to administration positions in an attempt to steer the Trump Administration toward an establishment agenda. Anyone hand-picked by Priebus should also be immediately replaced. White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer is another fifth columnist with the same establishment loyalties as Reince Priebus, and should be shown the door alongside his fellow conspirator.

Trump has the support of the citizenry of an overwhelming majority of the fifty states. He also has the support of the rank and file of the U.S. military and law enforcement personnel, not to mention many dedicated members of the intelligence services themselves. His efforts to discredit the mainstream media should continue, and he should make an effort to involve more independent media sources in all White House press briefings. An overwhelming number of Americans see the MSM for what it is, a propaganda ministry of the establishment. With an approval rating of 17% at the end of 2016, it is very doubtful that the corrupt majority of Congress, who have made millions by serving the military industrial complex instead of the American people, will have much of a chance in moving against Trump in a more aggressive manner. The American people will not support them.

Although a move to break the C.I.A. into a thousand pieces, as President John F. Kennedy proposed may not be possible, a real effort must be made to bring accountability back to a rogue intelligence cabal that has run rampant over our governmental institutions for over a half a century. Our constitutional republic, our shared pursuit of liberty, depend upon it. The foreign policy of the United States should be steered by the interests of the totality of the Republic, not the interests of an establishment who profit from perpetual war. In a letter published in the Washington Post on December 22, 1963, former President Harry S. Truman stated in part:

“For some time I have been disturbed by the way CIA has been diverted from its original assignment. It has become an operational and at times a policy-making arm of the Government. This has led to trouble and may have compounded our difficulties in several explosive areas.

I never had any thought that when I set up the CIA that it would be injected into peacetime cloak and dagger operations. Some of the complications and embarrassment I think we have experienced are in part attributable to the fact that this quiet intelligence arm of the President has been so removed from its intended role that it is being interpreted as a symbol of sinister and mysterious foreign intrigue—and a subject for cold war enemy propaganda.

But there are now some searching questions that need to be answered. I, therefore, would like to see the CIA be restored to its original assignment as the intelligence arm of the President, and that whatever else it can properly perform in that special field—and that its operational duties be terminated or properly used elsewhere.

We have grown up as a nation, respected for our free institutions and for our ability to maintain a free and open society. There is something about the way the CIA has been functioning that is casting a shadow over our historic position and I feel that we need to correct it.”

Hopefully, the current president will take President Truman’s advice to heart and move to reform the C.I.A. and bring accountability back to the larger intelligence services in general. Our future as a free and independent nation depends upon it.

All three of these former U.S. Presidents and military veterans saw the danger and warned America. We must wake up, revisit our nation’s history and win our republic back.