{"id":340394,"date":"2017-12-21T00:24:50","date_gmt":"2017-12-20T23:24:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/?p=340394"},"modified":"2017-12-21T00:53:47","modified_gmt":"2017-12-20T23:53:47","slug":"russiagate-actually-israelgate-trump-agent-israel-not-russia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/newswire\/russiagate-actually-israelgate-trump-agent-israel-not-russia\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Russiagate\u2019 Is Actually Israelgate \u2014 Trump as Agent of Israel, Not of Russia"},"content":{"rendered":"

Eric Zuesse<\/span><\/p>\n

The Special Counsel Robert Mueller\u2019s main evidence thus far in his \u201cRussiagate\u201d probe is not actually about possible Russian collusion with Trump to win the Presidency, but instead about definite Israeli collusion with Trump after Trump had already won the Presidency but before he became inaugurated. As a lawyer explained on the day when Trump\u2019s former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn was indicted in a plea-deal: \u201cMr. Flynn has just become the prosecution\u2019s star witness.\u201d<\/span><\/a> What Flynn had pled to was his trying to obtain Russia\u2019s support for Israel\u2019s Government, against the Palestinians. Russia said no; Putin said no to Flynn\u2019s request, which had been made on behalf of Israel.<\/span><\/p>\n

The way that Mueller’s investigation, to find reasons for Trump\u2019s impeachment, achieved on December 1st the indictment and plea-deal with Flynn, was to get Flynn to admit (after his first having lied to deny) that he had been asked by Trump\u2019s son-in-law Jared Kushner, who had been asked by Israel\u2019s head-of-state Benjamin Netanyahu, to communicate to Russia\u2019s head-of-state Vladimir Putin through Russia\u2019s U.S. Ambassador, a request on behalf of the incoming U.S. Administration of Donald Trump, for Russia to get Israel out of a jam at the U.N. Security Council. Netanyahu didn\u2019t want to be alone in trying to pressure Putin to turn against the Palestinians; he wanted the incoming Trump Administration also to be pressuring Putin to do that \u2014 for Russia to veto, this time, a resolution (#2334 in 2016<\/span><\/a>), which, every year in the past, had been supported by Russia; or, failing to achieve that, to get Russia\u2019s support for Israel\u2019s effort to delay the Security Council\u2019s vote, until after Trump would become installed as the U.S. President on January 20th. That\u2019s what Putin was saying no to. <\/span><\/p>\n

The initiative in this matter \u2014 the matter that has oddly become the centerpiece of Mueller\u2019s case for impeaching Trump \u2014 came from Israel\u2019s head-of-state, Benjamin Netanyahu, not at all from Russia\u2019s head-of-state, Vladimir Putin, such as is almost universally reported to have been the Trump Administration\u2019s foreign master (if any). Trump\u2019s agent, Kushner, was the supplicant, on behalf of Israel, for Putin\u2019s assistance to Israel. Kushner had been asked by Netanyahu to do this, and Kushner assigned Flynn to do it, on behalf of Trump. According to ABC News<\/span><\/a>, \u201cTrump phoned Flynn shortly after the election to explicitly ask him to ‘serve as point person on Russia,’ and to reach out personally to Russian officials to develop strategies to jointly combat ISIS.\u201d But, apparently, Flynn accepted Kushner\u2019s instructions also (not only Trump\u2019s), and he assumed that what Kushner wanted here (which was not against ISIS, but instead against the Palestinians) was also what Trump wanted on this matter. In fact, Eli Lake reported<\/span><\/a> about Flynn, on the day of Flynn\u2019s indictment, December 1st, \u201cthat during the last days of the Obama administration, the retired general was instructed to contact foreign ambassadors and foreign ministers of countries on the U.N. Security Council, ahead of a vote condemning Israeli settlements. Flynn was told to try to get them to delay that vote until after Barack Obama had left office, or oppose the resolution altogether.\u201d This was being done for Netanyahu, not<\/i> for Putin. As<\/span> the New York Times<\/i> reported this<\/span><\/a><\/span>, \u201cMr. Flynn asked Russia to intervene at the United Nations on behalf of Israel.\u201d Furthermore, Putin\u2019s answer to Kushner\u2019s request for Russia to veto or at least delay the “United Nations Security Council resolution condemning Israel for its settlement policy\u201d<\/span><\/a> was the exact opposite of what Netanyahu-Kushner were requesting: Russia voted in favor<\/span><\/a> of the resolution<\/span><\/a>, not weakened it \u2014 much less vetoed<\/i> it, as Netanyahu-Kushner were urging. <\/span><\/p>\n

In other words: Russia refused to comply with the incoming U.S. President\u2019s son-in-law’s request that had been passed to Putin through Russia’s U.S. Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, through Flynn, through Kushner, who had received the request directly from Netanyahu (and the indictment makes no allegation that President-Elect Trump even so much as knew<\/i> about any of this; there is no impeachable allegation made there<\/span><\/a> against Trump). Possibly, but not yet certainly, Kushner had received, from his father-in-law, instructions to comply with Israel\u2019s \u2018requests\u2019, so that Kushner didn\u2019t need to communicate with Mr. Trump specifically for permission to pass along to Putin through Russia\u2019s U.S. Ambassador, Netanyahu\u2019s desire, as being also America\u2019s desire. Not only was Trump not Putin\u2019s agent in this matter, but his son-in-law was instead serving there as Netanyahu\u2019s agent, under some as-yet-undetermined authorization from Trump, but the indictment doesn\u2019t even allege there to have been any such authorization, by Trump, at all<\/b>. <\/span><\/p>\n

We can be certain that Kushner did<\/i> have Trump\u2019s authorization, however, in some<\/i> form, because even now, Trump hasn\u2019t yet fired Kushner. Kushner\u2019s incompetence might bring down Trump, but Trump still stands with Kushner, against Mueller, even though that seems politically suicidal for Trump to be doing. No doubt, if Trump were to break from Kushner, then Kushner might testify against Trump \u2014 and so that path (Trump\u2019s turning against Kushner) would also<\/i> be politically suicidal for Trump. Perhaps Kushner will go to prison if he becomes prosecuted and doesn\u2019t reach any plea-deal. Maybe that\u2019s the reason why Trump doesn\u2019t fire Kushner.<\/span><\/p>\n

The plea-deal with Flynn<\/span><\/a> has him admitting that his contacts with Kislyak were authorized only by Kushner (referred to in Flynn\u2019s indictment<\/span><\/a> not by name but only by the vague phrase \u201ca very senior member of the Presidential Transition Team\u201d). However, Flynn had earlier lied to the FBI and said that he<\/span><\/a> \u201cnever asked Russia’s ambassador to Washington, Sergey Kislyak, to delay the vote for the U.N. Security Council resolution.\u201d So: if, subsequently, it somehow does turn out to be Flynn\u2019s word against Trump\u2019s word, then the ultimate decision will be made by Senate Republicans when they either do or don\u2019t vote for Mike Pence to take over the remainder of Trump\u2019s term. In order for that switch to be made, two-thirds of the entire U.S. Senate \u2014 that\u2019s 67 of the 100 \u2014 would need to vote for Pence to take over. Whereas Democrats seem eager for Pence to complete Trump\u2019s term, that\u2019s only 46 Senators, or 48 if both Independents vote with the Democrats<\/span><\/a>, and at least 9 or 11 of the Senate\u2019s 52 Republicans would then also need to vote for Pence. The Vice President would not be the presiding officer; instead, the Constitution makes the Chief Justice of the U.S. that, and only the Senators are allowed to be counted in a Senate trial that would follow after the House\u2019s majority-vote for a Senate trial to be held. The V.P. couldn\u2019t serve as any \u2018tie-breaker\u2019 in this trial. And removal-from-office would be the only direct harm to Trump; the U.S. provides no way to try the President on any charge via the courts \u2014 the only way a U.S. President can be punished for any crime is by being tried, and then convicted and removed from office, by a two-thirds vote in the Senate. Other than that, a U.S. President is above the law.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Flynn indictment<\/a><\/span> does make one other allegation which specifically concerns Russia: “FLYNN falsely stated that he did not ask Russia’s Ambassador to the United States … to refrain from escalating the situation in response to sanctions that the United States had imposed against Russia.\u201d Flynn admitted now that that was a lie \u2014 that he had<\/i> made this request of Kislyak.<\/span><\/p>\n

On December 5th, Max Blumenthal aptly headlined, \u201cMichael Flynn\u2019s Indictment Exposes Trump Team\u2019s Collusion With Israel, Not Russia<\/span><\/a> \u2014 But you wouldn\u2019t know it from reading most mainstream coverage of the revealing affair,\u201d and he commented:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhile the Israel lobby ran interference for Kushner, the favorite pundits of the liberal anti-Trump \u2018Resistance\u2019 minimized the role of Israel in the Flynn saga. MSNBC\u2019s Rachel Maddow, who has <\/i>devoted<\/i><\/span><\/a> more content this year to Russia than to any other topic, appeared to entirely avoid the issue of Kushner\u2019s collusion with Israel.\u201d<\/i> <\/span><\/p>\n

Apparently, exposing Israeli control over the U.S. Government is, in effect, prohibited; only Russian \u2018control\u2019 over us may be \u2018exposed\u2019. The very possibility,<\/i> that when America\u2019s taxpayers pay (via U.S. taxes) annual donations of $3.8 billion per year to the Government of Israel, which is a \u2018friend\u2019, instead of a master \u2014 an enemy \u2014<\/span><\/a> of the American people, seems to be prohibited to disprove, or even to question publicly. But there it is, and Russia gets the blame, which Israel (and the Sauds<\/span><\/a>) do not. <\/span><\/p>\n

Such misdirection of the blame could cause WW III, especially if U.S. media continue calling this \u2018evidence\u2019 \u2018against Trump\u2019, by such terms as \u2018Russiagate.\u2019 It\u2019s not that, at all; and portraying it as if it were, could do the whole world a whole lot of harm. (I don\u2019t say this in support of Trump, a President I loathe as much as I do his far slicker predecessor, but instead to expose the current lynch-mob as being what they actually are: psychopathic inciters of the most horrific \u2014 and unwarranted \u2014 war ever.)<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n

Investigative historian Eric Zuesse is the author, most recently, of\u00a0 They\u2019re Not Even Close: The Democratic vs. Republican Economic Records, 1910-2010<\/i><\/span><\/a>,<\/i> and of<\/span> \u00a0<\/i>CHRIST\u2019S VENTRILOQUISTS: The Event that Created Christianity<\/i><\/span><\/a><\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Eric Zuesse The Special Counsel Robert Mueller\u2019s main evidence thus far in his \u201cRussiagate\u201d probe is not actually about possible Russian collusion with Trump to win the Presidency, but instead about definite Israeli collusion with Trump after Trump had already won the Presidency but before he became inaugurated. As a lawyer explained on the day […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1254,"featured_media":340395,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[519],"tags":[115,30,32,96,3604,535,698,67,543,524,1024],"class_list":{"0":"post-340394","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-newswire","8":"tag-barack-obama","9":"tag-big-brother","10":"tag-cia","11":"tag-cover-up","12":"tag-donald-trump","13":"tag-global-news","14":"tag-hillary-clinton","15":"tag-israel","16":"tag-putin","17":"tag-russia","18":"tag-ww3"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340394","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1254"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=340394"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340394\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/340395"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=340394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=340394"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=340394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}