Jeremy Scahill Interviews Ralph Nader

The Intercept has an interesting interview between Jeremy Scahill and Ralph Nader.

It was posted on April 29, 2018. I did not became aware until this past Friday [May 4, 2018].

Among the issues covered by Scahill and Nader are Donald Trump’s presidency and his administration of neocons and warmongers, the auto manufacturing industry for the potential for driverless cars, and the state of the Democratic Party which includes the DNC’s recent lawsuit.

Due to the fact that I do not trust the corrupt, corporate Democratic Party [Establishment]—and I am not trusting of them since the Democratic presidential primaries of 2016—I was particularly interested in what Nader had to say about them.

I will provide a link to the interview. It is long. Following is a section of particular interest.


Scahill and Nader

[Jeremy Scahill]: On a different subject, Ralph, as you’re aware, last Friday [April 27, 2018], the Democratic National Committee filed this lawsuit in federal court in Manhattan against the Russian government, the [Donald] Trump campaign, individuals that the DNC alleges participated in interfering in the U.S. electoral process in 2016, and they also named WikiLeaks as a party in the lawsuit, even though the suit itself doesn’t allege that WikiLeaks participated in hacking or knew in advance about it at all, it just says WikiLeaks was publishing the hacked e-mails.

That part of it, to those of us in the media that follow these issues, is chilling because what they’re essentially saying is that news organizations or publishers that publish hacked or stolen material which every publication in this country has done repeatedly, that that’s a criminal or an activity that should be sanctioned or punished.

What is your analysis of this DNC lawsuit naming the Russian government, WikiLeaks, Trump campaign, etc.?

[Ralph Nader]: Well, first of all, I think it’s an insurance policy in case the [Robert] Mueller investigation fizzles, doesn’t come up with conspiracies, doesn’t come up with indictments at the top. They already are starting in terms of indictments at the bottom, in terms of operatives under the Trump campaign. That’s one.

The second is the Democratic National Committee wants to raise money, and it’s a great fundraiser.

The third is that when you file a civil lawsuit like that, you’re much freer to try to get information under subpoena and depositions and get information maybe that the Mueller investigation chooses not to get or not to disclose or the Justice Department.

And four, there’s been criticism that the Democratic National Committee is moribund, it’s hunkering down and it wants to show that it’s in the center of the action.

They got an aggressive plaintiff lawyer’s firm, Cohen Milstein, that know what they’re doing, that have been around a long time, and they’re very aggressive, and I’m sure they’re taking it on a contingent fee, plus expenses. So what’s not to like? From the head of the Democratic National Committee, [Tom] Perez, who will not meet with citizen groups who want to suggest a winning agenda for the Democrats in [2018 and/or 2020; Ed. note: Nader was quoted as saying “2016” but likely meant 2018 and/or 2020].

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