Last month, a comment made by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump about Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s missing emails received mass media coverage—while overlooking an important point.
Trump’s off-the-cuff remark, referencing 30,000 emails Hillary failed to turn over to the U.S. State Department upon leaving office, was: “Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing.”
Trump critics interpreted this as an invitation to a foreign power to meddle in a U.S. presidential election.
But a most damning piece of evidence discovered, clearly revealing an effort was made to engage Russian assistance to impact the presidential election, has been totally ignored!
The evidence reveals an unabashed quid pro quo was offered the Russians. In return for their help in the presidential election, a promise was given they would receive assistance in dealing with the opposing U.S. party’s candidate if elected. The exchange cannot be considered anything short of treason!
But, as the late radio commentator Paul Harvey liked to say, now for “the rest of the story.”
The U.S. presidential election the Russians were being asked to influence was not the 2016 election. It was the 1984 contest in which Republican Ronald Reagan was up for re-election against the Democrats’ Walter Mondale.
The person extending the offer to the Russians was a well-known Democrat who had reason to be concerned about the election. It ultimately proved a disaster for his party. Reagan won with almost 59% of the popular vote (translating into 97.6% of the electoral vote) compared to Mondale’s 40%.
For readers frothing at the mouth, ready to charge Trump with treason at the outset of this article, your anger is misdirected. The person who promised the Russians a quid pro quo to intervene in the 1984 presidential election was lifelong Democratic Party stalwart Senator Ted Kennedy.
Obviously, progressive-leaning readers can now stop their frothing having learned this treasonous communication was initiated by one of their icons.
Kennedy undoubtedly believed this exchange with the Soviets would never be revealed. He failed to recognize the efforts of Ronald Reagan—a man committed to the Soviet Empire’s downfall and whom Kennedy sought to have denied a second presidential term—would ultimately prove successful, resulting in decades of KGB files being released. Eight years after Kennedy undertook his initiative, it would come back to haunt him.
It is inconceivable that the man who would live long enough to become the third longest serving member of the U.S. Senate before passing away in 2009 would have secretly sought intervention by the Soviets on his political party’s behalf. But that is exactly what London Times’ reporter Tim Sebastian uncovered in 1991.
Sebastian came across a 1983 memorandum, written by Victor Chebrikov—head of the KGB—to his boss, Soviet leader Yuri Andropov.
The memorandum explained that Kennedy’s close confidant, former Democratic senator and lawyer John Tunney, was the conduit for an appeal for Russian assistance made during Tunney’s May 9-10, 1983 visit to Moscow.
The specific offers made by Tunney on Kennedy’s behalf shockingly sought to dupe the American people.
Kennedy would visit Moscow “to arm Soviet officials with explanations regarding problems of nuclear disarmament so they may be better prepared and more convincing during appearances in the USA.”
Additionally, Kennedy offered assistance to the Soviets on how to deal with Reagan by advising them on their propaganda efforts and helping to portray him as a warmonger. He also promised Andropov interviews on American television to make a direct appeal on the nuclear issue to the American people.
Kennedy effectively was promising Andropov airtime on television networks, with interviews made to look like honest journalism.
Revelation of this egregious act of treason by a serving U.S. government official should have generated a tsunami of media attention, as well as accountability. It failed to do either. Similar to the 1969 drowning death of Mary Jo Kopechne — a passenger in a car driven by Kennedy as it went of a bridge at Chappaquiddick Island — the 1991 revelation of Kennedy’s actions never seemed to haunt him, for no one sought to hold him accountable.
The disinterest in Kennedy’s treasonous conduct is mirrored today by a media much more focused on trying to dig up dirt on Trump’s relationship with Russia than reporting on the dirt dug up by virtue of Hillary’s relationship with Russia.
The Skolkovo initiative was a Moscow-based technology effort funded partly by Russia to create a Silicon Valley-type research center. Out of 28 U.S., European, and Russian companies involved, seventeen either contributed to the Clinton Foundation or sponsored speeches by Bill Clinton. The Foundation received between $6.5 and $23.5 million from these companies.
The FBI and U.S. Army have “determined that Skolkovo had transformed into a ‘dangerous pathway’ for Russian technological espionage and boosted the military’s technological capabilities.” In 2014, the “FBI issued ‘an extraordinary warning’ to U.S. tech companies against involvement in the Skolkovo initiative. The agency concluded that the ‘true motives’ of the Russian partners, who were backed by President Vladimir Putin’s government, were to obtain ‘classified, sensitive, and emerging technology from the companies.’”
A Government Accountability Institute (GAI) report makes it clear Clinton Foundation and State Department cooperation involving a pay-for-play mindset occurred as Hillary sought to reset relations with Russia.
During the 1974 Watergate investigation, Hillary Clinton worked for life-long Democrat Jerry Zeifman, House Judiciary Committee general counsel and chief of staff. He has called Clinton a “liar” and “an unethical, dishonest lawyer.” Zeifman has also accused her of collaborating with Kennedy allies “to block revelation of Kennedy-administration activities that made Watergate ‘look like a day at the beach.’”
Forty-two years later, little has changed. Whether using independent email servers for her own convenience or her position to promote her Foundation, Hillary continues her lies, now endangering U.S. national security.
Sadly, a lack of honest journalism makes the media her tacit co-conspirator.
Lt. Colonel James G. Zumwalt, USMC (Ret.), is a retired Marine infantry officer who served in the Vietnam war, the U.S. invasion of Panama and the first Gulf war. He is the author of “Bare Feet, Iron Will–Stories from the Other Side of Vietnam’s Battlefields,” “Living the Juche Lie: North Korea’s Kim Dynasty” and “Doomsday: Iran–The Clock is Ticking.” He frequently writes on foreign policy and defense issues.
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