By: Cliff Kincaid

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The big “news” on Saturday was that President Trump is getting better since being diagnosed with a China virus infection. But his treatments are questionable and he was taken to the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, also known as Bethesda Naval Hospital, which is the subject of J.C. Hawkins’ controversial book, Betrayal at Bethesda.  

It’s a facility hailed by the president and many for first-rate medical care but is also known to be a location where controversial government and political figures can meet their untimely and unexpected ends.

Various reports have attempted to blame the COVID outbreak on Trump aide Hope Hicks, a White House event to announce the Judge Amy Coney Barrett nomination, or Trump not wearing a mask. But Hawkins said he was concerned how Trump, after weeks of an extensive work and travel schedule, had suddenly tested positive and came down with symptoms.

He said he was also surprised by how suddenly Trump was taken away from the White House and noted the case of James Forrestal, the former secretary of defense who supposedly “fell” from a 16th-floor window of the Bethesda Naval Hospital on May 22, 1949. In another mysterious case, anti-communist Senator Joseph McCarthy went into the hospital with a knee injury at five o’clock on a Sunday afternoon and was pronounced dead five days later from acute hepatitis.

In the always controversial case of the assassination of John F. Kennedy, an autopsy was conducted at Bethesda so the government, according to some observers, could make certain claims about the manner of his death and cover up the nature of the plot against the president.

Of special concern to those alarmed about the activities of what has been called the Deep State, McCarthy’s death occurred at a time when the Senator was preparing to investigate the infiltration of the CIA by Soviet and Chinese intelligence operatives. Trump has some of the same enemies.

In Trump’s case, interestingly, the China-made illness comes just about 30 days before the election, as revelations emerge almost every day about the roles played by intelligence agencies such as the FBI and CIA in subverting the Trump presidency.

In one of the latest developments, Trump’s own CIA director, Gina Haspel, is alleged to be blocking the release of important documents about the agency’s role in anti-Trump coup plotting. Haspel had worked for Barack Hussein Obama’s CIA Director John Brennan, a one-time communist sympathizer who actually voted for the Communist Party candidate in a national election.  Brennan supported Trump nominating her to the top agency post.

In terms of medical care for Trump, who has recorded a video praising hospital doctors and staff, White House physician Dr. Sean Conley said the president was being given the unproven and experimental drug Remdesivir, which is not approved for COVID or any other condition. Possible side effects can be almost as devastating as the coronavirus.

The physician treating President Trump and first lady Melania Trump, Conley has made some contradictory statements about when the president acquired the disease and was evasive about when Trump started receiving oxygen to help him breathe and avoid some of the lung damage from the China virus.

“My question is what happened in Cleveland, where the debate took place?” Hawkins said. “There are reports that some of the technical crew setting up the debate stage for the broadcast have come down with COVID.  Another report suggests that three members of the press pool have as well.”

Yet, Trump’s opponent, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, claims he tested negative for the virus, despite being in close proximity to Trump.

Hawkins found it significant that all of this is happening during the nomination and confirmation process for Judge Barrett for the Supreme Court. Senate Democrat Leader Chuck Schumer wants to delay the process, citing the coronavirus outbreak. Confirmation of Barrett could swing the Court to a possible 6-3 conservative majority.

Three key Republican Senators have tested positive for the China Virus (Lee, Johnson, Tillis) just this week. He asked, “Is that a coincidence?  Sorry, I simply don’t believe in coincidence.  There’s no such thing.”

He said “My mother always said, ‘Things happen for a reason.’”

He then speculates about sinister forces who may want to see President Trump dead. Such speculation may strike some people as a “conspiracy theory.” But Trump’s first three years in office have featured attacks on him personally and his presidency from U.S. intelligence agencies, as well as some military brass.

Hawkins cited a number of military personnel “who have been very critical and outspoken regarding their Commander-in-Chief.” He called them “traitors” who are in direct violation of Article 88 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. That provision says, “Any commissioned officer who uses contemptuous words against the President, the Vice President, Congress, the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of a military department, the Secretary of Homeland Security, or the Governor or legislature of any State, Commonwealth, or possession in which he is on duty or present shall be punished as a court-martial may direct.”

But Hawkins goes further, wondering if those opposed to Trump could try to gain access to him or his medical treatment, in order to assassinate him.

“With as little as we actually know about the virus and how it is transmitted,” Hawkins asks, “are there ways in which The Deep State can weaponize and target it against certain individuals?  Consider what the Russians have done with various poisons against their political enemies, even to the extent of carrying out black ops in foreign countries.”

Hawkins added, “Certainly, those Deep Staters who want to influence the election and deny a vote on the Barrett nomination before the election would have motive and possible opportunities to do so.”

In the case of Senator McCarthy’s death, Hawkins isn’t the only writer and researcher who asked how he could go into Bethesda with a knee injury and die of hepatitis. Conservative journalist Medford Evans wrote a book, The Assassination of Joe McCarthy, looking at what happened to the Senator after he entered “the dark tower of Bethesda.” He considered the possibility that some poison could have been placed into a drink or in the air, as he was in his hospital bed, in order to incapacitate and ultimately kill him.

The large number of people with access to Trump has also emerged as a major cause of concern for those worried about his recovery.

Hawkins said, “Those of us who’ve been hospitalized can recall the virtual parade of people coming in and out of our hospital rooms:  nurses, doctors, various technicians with equipment, people bringing food, orderlies cleaning, etc. So who will have access to President Trump? Is the Secret Service able to vet and limit access to a select few on such short notice?  Walter Reed is a huge complex with a multitude of possible access points.”

Hawkins said, “This is the same military hospital where I believe James Forrestal and Joseph McCarthy were murdered.  It’s also where President Kennedy’s autopsy was falsified.”

His controversial book was updated earlier this year with a new subtitle, “The Origins of the Modern Deep State & Fake News,” and includes an appendix, “The Deep State Mysterious Death List.” One of these is the official “suicide” of Clinton White House lawyer Vincent Foster that a prosecutor in the case had said was probably murder.

Hawkins said he is very concerned about the fate of the president.  “Since Donald Trump ran for the presidency, I’ve had a great fear that the Deep State would try to assassinate him,” he said. “In both my books and in columns on my blog, The Forgotten Street, I’ve raised that possibility repeatedly.  In my new book, I note the eerie similarities between President Trump and President Kennedy in terms of their vulnerability to the Deep State.”

The real danger remains a coup, Hawkins believes, “particularly one carried out by treasonous retired and active members of the U.S. military.” He cites a column by Frank De Verona of the Bay of Pigs Veterans Association about planning for such a coup.

The column by De Varona, who has met personally with President Trump, warns that “diabolical people” think Trump will win in November and have decided to prevent his second term by “using any means” necessary.

Cliff Kincaid is president of America’s Survival, Inc. www.usasurvival.org.