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AP Photo/ Pablo Martinez Monsivais
Julian Assange's statement that Hillary Clinton is secretly plotting "a Mike Pence takeover" in the Oval Office together with US intelligence officials has stirred a heated debate. Wall Street analyst Charles Ortel shared his views on the possibility of a House of Cards scenario being implemented in his interview with Sputnik.
WikiLeaks' editor-in-chief Julian Assange announced Tuesday that Hillary Clinton is harboring a secret plan to replace US President Donald Trump with Vice President Mike Pence.
"I find all of that dialogue to be absurd and frankly offensive," Pence told CNN on the same day, commenting on the issue.
House of Cards' Impeachment Scenario
Sputnik asked Charles Ortel, an investigative journalist and Wall Street analyst who exposed General Electric's fraud before its stock crashed in 2008, to comment on the matter.
"I would like to think that the 'House
of Cards' scenario suggested by Assange and others is far from viable,
though I have no doubt that many establishment players in Democrat and
Republican parties, in the media, in academia, and in government
bureaucracies would be delighted to oust President Trump, one way or
another," Ortel told Sputnik.
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AP Photo/ Sven Hoppe
US
Vice President Mike Pence, center, his wife Karen, second from left,
and his daughter Charlotte, left, are lead by Holocaust survivor Abba
Naor, second from right, as they visit the former Nazi concentration
camp in Dachau near Munich, southern Germany, Sunday, Feb. 19, 2017, one
day after he attended the Munich Security Conference.
"Mike Pence seems to be an honest, devout,
conservative who has little in common with Hillary Clinton or her
various backers," the Wall Street analyst said, "In many ways, I think
our Vice President will prove an equally formidable foe to the Clintons,
to the Obamas, and to others in the Soros-financed attempt to push the
Democrat party towards the radical left."
Meanwhile, Christian Datoc of the Daily Caller drew attention
to the fact that Assange's announcement came following reports that
President Trump authorized the CIA to perform drone strikes
on terrorists Monday, thus broadening the agency's powers.It seems rather strange given rumors that former CIA officials could have been behind the leaks targeting the Trump administration.
"By handing unilateral power to the CIA
over its drone strikes at this time, the White House signals that
bullying, disloyalty & incompetence pays," Assange tweeted.
"No," the Wall Street analyst responded, "I
think President Trump is merely trying to untie the hands of line
operatives, who had been shackled by the Obama Administration's penchant
to embrace cumbersome, bureaucratic rules of engagement generally, and
in combat zones."
"So far, what I see in President Trump is an attempt to bring common
sense management approaches to one of the largest (and least well
managed) organizations in the world — the US federal government,
with its many departments. To me, it makes eminent sense to set clear
objectives with department heads, and then leave these persons
with running room to lead their personnel and help them actually meet
the objectives. That approach has worked for Mr. Trump in the business
sector (and for many others)," Ortel explained.Hillary Clinton Unwilling to Go Down Without a Fight
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REUTERS/ Carlos Barria
The question arises as to why Trump hesitates to deliver on his election promise and appoint a special prosecutor to investigate Hillary Clinton?
"Under our system, career prosecutors and IRS
[Internal Revenue Service] officials (at federal level), and their
equivalents at the state level, are responsible for moving
investigations along, deciding whether to prosecute, and then winning
convictions, should they proceed with indictments," Ortel said.
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AFP 2017/ JIM BOURG / POOL
Democratic
presidential nominee Hillary Clinton looks on during the second
presidential debate at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri on
October 9, 2016.
"The 'email' and potential 'pay-to-play'
scandals are likely to be far harder to prove, in my opinion, than the
solicitation and operating scandals that I see, having looked in detail
at public records concerning the many Clinton 'charities'," he
explained.
According to the analyst, one general impediment to proceeding has
been the slow pace at which the new administration has been able to get
its designees confirmed and working in key roles within the Federal
Government.
"Here, I am amazed that the Trump
Administration has failed to clean house at the Internal Revenue
Service, where the Chief and the Head of the Tax-Exempt Organizations
Department (the key position overseeing charities) should long ago have
been replaced," Ortel highlighted.
"I believe that President Trump may have (correctly) concluded there
is no need for a special prosecutor — just let the many rumored
investigations proceed," he added.The Wall Street analyst noted that "across the political spectrum in the US, people on the left and on the right do believe that no one is 'too big to jail'."
"Others have served long prison sentences and paid massive fines over much smaller charity frauds," Ortel, who is conducting a private investigation into the Clinton Foundation, noted.
Why 'Swamp-Dwellers' Continue to Rock the Boat
Meanwhile, Trump's political opponents continue to throw sand in his gears. Observers say that the US President enjoys popular support in the US and that he can rely on the US people. But can the American people's support outweigh the destructive efforts on the part of influential Democratic sponsors?
"In 2017, political parties have much less power than they once did, given the ease, speed, and low cost with which people can communicate with one another," Ortel responded.
On the other hand, he stressed that the US bipartisan establishment has not boasted any substantial achievements in terms of the economy or geopolitics since 1999.
"President Trump and his team are disrupting the one (large) corner of the American economy that seemed immune to threats posed by powerful and inexpensive technology (to public sector wages) and that, to date, has remained out of effective control," Ortel underscored.
"So, swamp-dwellers in both parties have and
will fight hard, because they understand that the swamp, once drained,
will not likely get refilled — the DC lobbyists, lawyers, mainstream
media, think-tankers, and academia are all threatened," he pointed out.
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REUTERS/ Rodrigo Garrido
WikiLeaks
founder Julian Assange appears on screen via video link during his
participation as a guest panelist in an International Seminar on the
60th anniversary of the college of Journalists of Chile in Santiago,
Chile, July 12, 2016
In addition, WikiLeaks' exposures have repeatedly played into the Trump team's hands.
That made Max Boot of the Council on Foreign Relations claim that WikiLeaks, which he called an "anti-American group," has become "the preferred intelligence service for a conspiracy-addled White House."
Do these claims have real grounds?
Most unlikely, Ortel believes.
"If I were a Bernie Sanders supporter, I would
have been more than a little upset by the ways in which the Clinton wing
of the Democratic party hobbled the Vermont Senator's chances
of securing the Presidential nomination. So, I can easily imagine that
one or more of those inside the Democratic National Committee (DNC) may
have been responsible for the DNC and Podesta leaks last year," the
analyst told Sputnik.
As for the latest CIA dump,
there are, apparently, many contractors within the agency which are
concerned about the mismanagement of the organization's powerful
technological tools and the degree to which intelligence officials guard
and use sensitive data."I imagine there are many contractors who might have decided to send what has come out so far, into the public domain," Ortel noted.
"As for Wikileaks' releases that seem to hurt
[Hillary] Clinton and may help Trump, the Clintons have been operating
on a national scale since January 1993 and they have inserted numerous
allies into the federal and multi-lateral governments. It stands
to reason that WikiLeaks (and others) may have much more to mine on the
Clintons, than they might have on President Trump and his group of,
chiefly, outsiders," the Wall Street analyst elaborated.
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