Excerpts of the January 2019 program RussiaGate: The Absence of Evidence? – Ray McGovern served as a CIA analyst for 27 years, from the administration of John F. Kennedy to that of George H. W. Bush. His duties included chairing National Intelligence Estimates and preparing the President’s Daily Brief to Ronald Reagan’s security advisers from 1981 to 1985.
The material for this program came with a professional challenge – would TUC radio broadcast arguments that there is no evidence that Russia interfered in the 2016 elections? Now just over a year later there is renewed attention on election interference, the role of Russia, the working of the DNC in choosing the democratic candidate – and maybe most importantly of all – the fate of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and that of former U.S. Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning. She remains in jail to force her to testify against Assange.
In Ray McGovern’s Russiagate story WikiLeaks plays a pivotal role during the 2016 US Democratic Party presidential primaries, as they received and published emails by candidate Hillary Clinton and her campaign.
Julian Assange is currently serving a prison sentence for jumping bail in the UK. He faces extradition to the US under the espionage act that could result in his imprisonment for up to 175 years.
Chris Hedges wrote in early February 2020: “The publication of classified documents is not yet a crime in the United States. If Assange is extradited and convicted, it will become one. Assange is not an American citizen. WikiLeaks is not a U.S.-based publication. The extradition of Assange would …. cement into place a terrifying global, corporate tyranny under which borders, nationality and law mean nothing. Once such a legal precedent is set, any publication that publishes classified material, from The New York Times to an alternative website, will be prosecuted and silenced”.
As Julian Assange is now fighting extradition to the US, Chelsea Manning has spent over a year in prison for refusing to testify against him. Extradition hearings for Julian Assange are accelerating in the UK. Ray McGovern has joined the many authors and journalists who are calling attention to Julian Assange. 17 members of the German Parliament nominated Julian Assange, Chelsea Manning and Edward Snowden for the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize.
Ray McGovern was recorded on August 4, 2018 at the Common Good Cafe in Seattle, WA. Thanks to KODX-LP FM radio and Mike McCormick for the audio.
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