Shane O'Sullivan

Sure. I think Wayne was trading press passes to gain access as a collector, not as part of the plot. As a conspirator, his posters and memorabilia would have drawn too much attention to him and why would a conspirator get Kennedy to autograph his poster before playing a part in killing him? There is no proof he was a Minuteman or that his views were the polar opposite to Kennedy because the link to Gilbert was mistaken. He ran out of the room in a panic and behaved oddly but the key point is there's no evidence he had a gun in the poster. The day after the shooting, Patricia Nelson told the FBI she saw a slightly-built Mexican or Cuban man running out the Embassy Room after the shooting with what looked like ‘the stock of a gun protruding from a package.’ Two friends were with her and one of them spotted the same individual in footage replayed on an ABC newscast later that evening. The FBI made arrangements for Nelson and her friends to view the newscast at ABC. In the meantime, ‘ABC film editors, in searching video tapes on the Kennedy affair had frozen a frame of the person carrying the package…[thinking it] could have been Sirhan Sirhan.’ The tape shows Kennedy signing rolled-up campaign posters for a Sirhan lookalike later identified as Michael Wayne, on his way to the stage. Seeing the rolled-up posters again on tape caused Nelson to doubt her initial impression that a gun was hidden in them and the FBI took no further action.

On 2/2/2019 at 11:36 AM, Micah Mileto said: https://content.invisioncic.com/r16296/monthly_2016_12/Photo_rfk_BulletHoles.jpg.41bc36ce0238c10b567ae7c0421f3b7b.jpg https://www.maryferrell.org/wiki/images/1/15/Photo_rfk_grex37_0466.jpg  Is this supposed to be a bullet hole or is that a nail? That's disputed. I agree this is the least convincing of the alleged bullet holes photographed that night. The four holes in the pantry doorframe and centre divider are the ones of most interest to me and are featured in the Hearst film.

No, he wasn't. Keith Gilbert was and LAPD found no connection between Gilbert and the Michael Wayne at the Ambassador

Gilbert was imprisoned in San Quentin in 1966 and was still there in April 1969 when LAPD interviewed him about this. A business card for a different Michael Wayne was found at Gilbert's apartment during a search for stolen dynamite in 1965, so when the LAPD thought it might be the same Michael Wayne, that's how the confusion started. I went through all of this many years ago and there is nothing there. Wayne was a strange guy, so it wouldn't surprise me if he gave evasive answers during a polygraph but I'm not sure how you can analyse his responses from the sounds of a polygraph on a cassette tape. If his polygraph charts are in the files, it would be better to have a polygraph expert examine them.

Micah: The Hearst film of the holes is not new. I found it at the UCLA Film & Television Archive in March 2006 and included it in my film RFK Must Die in 2007. I also wrote about Michael Wayne in my book Who Killed Bobby? in 2008, after speaking to him on the phone. Yes, his behaviour was odd that night but he was detained, handcuffed and no gun was found in his rolled-up poster. The video of him getting RFK to sign the poster before the speech and photographs of him before and after the shooting by Bill Eppridge and Steve Fontanini show nothing suspicious. I have read the 30-page section on Michael Wayne in Lisa's new book but nothing in that convinces me Wayne played any role in the assassination.

Just adding my two recent articles for the Washington Post here, based on my book: The Cuban spy and Watergate burglar who won a presidential pardon The national security adviser who colluded with foreign powers — decades before Michael Flynn

Thanks, Jim. Glad to hear you're reading it.

My new book Dirty Tricks: Nixon, Watergate and the CIA discusses the Hunt-Helms relationship in great detail, with a lot of new material, and has more on McCord and his motivations than any book since Jim Hougan's Secret Agenda 35 years ago. It should help answer some of these questions. See attached letter from Helms to Hunt from January 1969 for an indication of how close they were.

Thanks, Paz

I'm very pleased to share my first piece for The Washington Post, featuring a Watergate burglar sent on a double agent mission to Cuba by US intelligence five years after the break-in; and a deception operation by Antonio Veciana targeting Cuban intelligence during the HSCA investigation into the JFK assassination: The Cuban spy and Watergate burglar who won a presidential pardon The article draws on my new book Dirty Tricks: Nixon, Watergate and the CIA, out now: www.nixondirtytricks.com

Thanks, Kirk, great to hear that! You still have a few surprises in store in the final chapters. After completing the book, I received some new information on the background of James McCord, which he wrote himself in his later years and I found interesting. I posted it on the Dirty Tricks Facebook page yesterday: "I was one of only three men who worked directly in the two most secret Intelligence operations of WWII: In 1942 in the famed Enigma/Ultra Operation against the German Intelligence Service, and later in 1942 and 1943 in the equally famous Venona/Bride Operation against the Soviet Intelligence Services in New York City which was running the Atomic Espionage in the U.S. While in Europe with CIA I had headed up a team which brought out of Switzerland a KGB Agent, Lt. Colonel Yuri Nosenko, who had seen the KGB file of Lee Harvey Oswald. We successfully and safely got the defecting KGB Agent out of Switzerland and on to the United States where the Warren Commission investigating the assassination of President John F. Kennedy was very much interested in what was in the KGB file on Oswald."

Steve, I don't go deeply into the Bishop story but the bait for Cuban intelligence in the later op was alleged photographs of Oswald at a DRE meeting in Dallas in 1963 where Veciana spoke. You can watch a 2006 interview I did with Veciana below.

Anthony, I'm in touch with John and will let him know, though I write about Veciana around the time of his HSCA testimony and I think John's still working through the early sixties.

Thanks for the recommendation, Paz. I hope you're well, too. Steve, I think Dick Russell and Jim Hougan are very interested in tracing the links between the JFK assassination and Watergate and the shadow world behind both events and much in-between. I assume Dick feels Hunt and Helms were party to such secrets and I trace how close their relationship was in the book. Helms was pitching Hunt's novels to Hollywood studios until weeks before the first break-in. I also detail a very important contact between Antonio Veciana and Cuban intelligence re the Maurice Bishop story, which was not mentioned in Veciana's recent book.

Thanks, Joe. Mr. Caddy is mentioned, Roger Stone is not as he was peripheral to Watergate in my view. The men in the photo are (left to right) locksmith Virgilio Gonzalez, Frank Sturgis (the "look-out" for the second break-in), Henry Rothblatt (attorney for the Miami burglars), Bernard Barker (the "team captain" of the operation) and Rolando Eugenio Martinez, whose role was to photograph documents given to him by Barker. I think the anomaly you mention is the result of a wide-angle lens in the original photo.

I'm pleased to announce the publication of my book, Dirty Tricks: Nixon, Watergate and the CIA on the 'dirty tricks' used by the Nixon campaign in the 1968 and 1972 elections - the Anna Chennault affair, the Ellsberg break-in and Watergate. The book is now in stock at Amazon and I am happy to answer questions about it here. Many of the key players in Watergate are also central to the debate about the JFK assassination. The book includes a lot of new information on the CIA and post-CIA work of Howard Hunt, Rolando Martinez and James McCord and reveals that one of the Watergate burglars claimed to have been in Dallas on 11.22.63. The book documents a double agent mission one of the burglars was sent on by American intelligence after he got out of prison and sheds a whole new light on Antonio Veciana and the Maurice Bishop story. Here's a summary and some advance reviews: SUMMARY The victory of Richard Nixon in the US presidential election of 1968 swung on an “October Surprise”— a treasonous plot engineered by key figures in the Republican Party to keep the South Vietnamese government away from peace talks in Paris, costing thousands of American lives. Dirty Tricks provides compelling new evidence of Anna Chennault’s Nixon-approved role in sabotaging the peace talks and ensuring a Nixon White House. Dirty Tricks also provides the first detailed analysis of the CIA’s recently-released internal history of Watergate, documenting the backgrounds of the burglars and their associations with the Agency in unprecedented detail, and how the Nixon White House sought to implicate the CIA in the emerging scandal. CIA Director Richard Helms’ relationship with Watergate burglar E. Howard Hunt was much closer than previously disclosed and the CIA agent inside the plot was sent on a double agent mission by American intelligence after he got out of prison. The alleged target of the Watergate break-ins was DNC chairman Larry O’Brien’s phone. Dirty Tricks reveals that the burglars didn't know where O’Brien’s office was and tapped the wrong phone with a bug that didn't work while O’Brien was in Miami preparing for the 1972 convention. Prosecutor Earl Silbert could "never determine the precise motivation for the burglary” but Dirty Tricks explains the political and sexual nature of the calls overheard on DNC official Spencer Oliver’s phone, and why no bug was found at the DNC until three months after the Watergate arrests. Drawing on newly-declassified files and previously-unpublished documents, Dirty Tricks debunks the myths around Watergate and deepens our understanding of the “dirty tricks” that undermined democracy during the Nixon years. These scandals turn on the covert action of two powerful interest groups—the senior CIA officers around Helms, and the key advisers around Nixon – in this chilling story of political espionage and deception. REVIEWS “While we have fundamental disagreements about 'Watergate' and the Deep State agenda that shaped it, O’Sullivan is to be congratulated on an impeccably researched work of investigative reporting that adds greatly to our understanding of the affair and its mysteries" - Jim Hougan (author, Secret Agenda). “Dirty Tricks goes well beyond anything yet published, in revealing the mysterious links between the Watergate scandal and the CIA. Was the bungled burglary part of an internecine effort to topple President Nixon? Was the cover-up for fear of secrets being divulged, from a Washington call-girl ring to the Kennedy assassination? This meticulously-researched book draws upon never-before-seen documents in addressing such questions, in a spy-versus-spy story that fills in major gaps in our recent history" - Dick Russell (author, The Man Who Knew Too Much). “Shane O’Sullivan’s new book on Watergate, Dirty Tricks, draws on the millions of records that have become available since 2016, chiefly from the CIA. Anyone interested in comparing that crisis with the present needs to consult the fresh information and perspectives in this well-researched and timely book" - Peter Dale Scott (author, The American Deep State: Big Money, Big Oil, and the Struggle for U.S. Democracy). “This brilliantly researched book will bring back fond memories to those of us who, as was said at the time, wallowed in Watergate. It provides a new generation with the opportunity to relive this intense experience" - Alan Galbraith (attorney for the Democratic National Committee, 1972).

I'm pleased to announce the publication of my book, Dirty Tricks: Nixon, Watergate and the CIA on the 'dirty tricks' used by the Nixon campaign in the 1968 and 1972 elections - the Anna Chennault affair, the Ellsberg break-in and Watergate. The book is now in stock at Amazon and I am happy to answer questions about it here. Here's a summary and some advance reviews: SUMMARY The victory of Richard Nixon in the US presidential election of 1968 swung on an “October Surprise”— a treasonous plot engineered by key figures in the Republican Party to keep the South Vietnamese government away from peace talks in Paris, costing thousands of American lives. Dirty Tricks provides compelling new evidence of Anna Chennault’s Nixon-approved role in sabotaging the peace talks and ensuring a Nixon White House. Dirty Tricks also provides the first detailed analysis of the CIA’s recently-released internal history of Watergate, documenting the backgrounds of the burglars and their associations with the Agency in unprecedented detail, and how the Nixon White House sought to implicate the CIA in the emerging scandal. CIA Director Richard Helms’ relationship with Watergate burglar E. Howard Hunt was much closer than previously disclosed and the CIA agent inside the plot was sent on a double agent mission by American intelligence after he got out of prison. The alleged target of the Watergate break-ins was DNC chairman Larry O’Brien’s phone. Dirty Tricks reveals that the burglars didn't know where O’Brien’s office was and tapped the wrong phone with a bug that didn't work while O’Brien was in Miami preparing for the 1972 convention. Prosecutor Earl Silbert could "never determine the precise motivation for the burglary” but Dirty Tricks explains the political and sexual nature of the calls overheard on DNC official Spencer Oliver’s phone, and why no bug was found at the DNC until three months after the Watergate arrests. Drawing on newly-declassified files and previously-unpublished documents, Dirty Tricks debunks the myths around Watergate and deepens our understanding of the “dirty tricks” that undermined democracy during the Nixon years. These scandals turn on the covert action of two powerful interest groups—the senior CIA officers around Helms, and the key advisers around Nixon – in this chilling story of political espionage and deception. REVIEWS “While we have fundamental disagreements about 'Watergate' and the Deep State agenda that shaped it, O’Sullivan is to be congratulated on an impeccably researched work of investigative reporting that adds greatly to our understanding of the affair and its mysteries" - Jim Hougan (author, Secret Agenda). “Dirty Tricks goes well beyond anything yet published, in revealing the mysterious links between the Watergate scandal and the CIA. Was the bungled burglary part of an internecine effort to topple President Nixon? Was the cover-up for fear of secrets being divulged, from a Washington call-girl ring to the Kennedy assassination? This meticulously-researched book draws upon never-before-seen documents in addressing such questions, in a spy-versus-spy story that fills in major gaps in our recent history" - Dick Russell (author, The Man Who Knew Too Much). “Shane O’Sullivan’s new book on Watergate, Dirty Tricks, draws on the millions of records that have become available since 2016, chiefly from the CIA. Anyone interested in comparing that crisis with the present needs to consult the fresh information and perspectives in this well-researched and timely book" - Peter Dale Scott (author, The American Deep State: Big Money, Big Oil, and the Struggle for U.S. Democracy). “This brilliantly researched book will bring back fond memories to those of us who, as was said at the time, wallowed in Watergate. It provides a new generation with the opportunity to relive this intense experience" - Alan Galbraith (attorney for the Democratic National Committee, 1972).

After telling Charlie Rose three years ago he found the evidence of conspiracy in the JFK assassination "very, very convincing", Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has now publicly supported a new investigation into his father's murder: http://whowhatwhy.or...16/02/16/22296/

After telling Charlie Rose three years ago he found the evidence of conspiracy in the JFK assassination "very, very convincing", Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has now publicly supported a new investigation into his father's murder. Read my detailed report on Sirhan's parole hearing here: http://whowhatwhy.org/2016/02/16/22296/

My piece on Sirhan's parole hearing in San Diego tomorrow: whowhatwhy.org/2016/02/09/rfk-friend-to-raise-doubts-about-sirhan-guilt-at-parole-hearing/

I'm very pleased to hear that Paul Schrade, a close friend of Bobby Kennedy and his family, will attend Sirhan's parole hearing. Paul stood beside RFK during his victory speech and then walked behind him into the pantry, where he was shot in the head by Sirhan and his friend Bob was assassinated. Now 91, he has led a campaign to reopen the case for over forty years, based on eyewitness evidence that Sirhan could not have fired the fatal shot described in Kennedy's autopsy and an analysis of the only known audio recording of the shooting which indicates thirteen shots - and two guns - were fired. Paul recently worked with Bobby Kennedy's family to turn the Ambassador Hotel into the Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools complex and will address Sirhan and the parole board at the end of the hearing. For more, see www.sirhanbsirhan.com/justice

On February 10, Sirhan Bishara Sirhan, the convicted assassin of Robert F. Kennedy, will be considered for parole in San Diego. Sirhan was originally scheduled for release in 1984 but after intense political pressure, his parole date was rescinded in 1982 and he has since been denied thirteen times. In March, Sirhan will turn 72 years old, having spent two-thirds of his life in prison for a crime he cannot remember committing. For three years prior to his last parole hearing in 2011, Dr. Daniel Brown of Harvard Medical School spent over sixty hours with Sirhan trying to recover his memory of the shooting. Dr. Brown concluded Sirhan’s amnesia for events before and during the shooting was real but his findings were ignored by the parole board, who saw the gaps in Sirhan’s memory as a cynical ruse to minimise his responsibility for his crime. Sirhan has been an exemplary inmate, with no prison violations since 1972 and an excellent work record. If paroled, he would be deported to Jordan to live out his final years, a danger to nobody. But as The Marshall Project recently discovered in a year-long examination of America’s parole boards, parole decisions are often driven not by public safety but by politics. Since 1982, California has treated Sirhan like a political prisoner who will never be released, not a human being who has served his time and has the right to a fair hearing and the rule of law. In the courts, his habeas corpus petition was denied last year, despite new audio evidence indicating thirteen shots were fired in the Ambassador Hotel pantry that evening. American journalism’s record of reporting this case has been abysmal, with no serious investigation by a news organisation since a CBS News inquiry forty years ago. While Sirhan is still alive, there’s still time to reinvestigate his case and expose the politicised charade that his appeal and parole process have become. I will be blogging on the case daily in advance of Sirhan’s parole hearing, releasing a range of new archival material, and I urge others to join me: www.sirhanbsirhan.com I've posted a video giving an overview of the case, with previously-unseen clips from Sirhan’s 2011 hearing here.

In March 2014, Eugenio Zaldivar Cadenas was alive and well and publicly reminiscing about the 1966 operation at a conference in Miami organised by The Institute of Cuban Historical Memory against Totalitarianism. Click on the speakers to see their videos: http://cubamemorial.net/Eventos/140326-CubaOperacionesEspeciales.html I'm sure he can be contacted through the Institute. Shane

Today, I'm releasing for digital download a highly revealing and long-overlooked six-hour audio recording of George de Mohrenschildt speaking about his relationship with Lee Harvey Oswald. On February 14, 1969, de Mohrenschildt sat down with his wife Jeanne and Dutch journalist Willem Oltmans to record on audiotape the draft manuscript for a planned book on Oswald. He felt he'd been unfair to Oswald in his Warren Commission testimony and wanted to set the record straight. Nine tapes were recorded over two days to help pitch the book to publishers. Eight years later, as de Mohrenschildt was to be called before the HSCA, Oltmans tried to use the tapes to implicate his friend George in Kennedy's murder. Within days, de Mohrenschildt was found dead with a gunshot wound to the head in an apparent suicide. These recordings formed the basis for the unpublished manuscript I am a Patsy! found in his possessions after his death and address many of the myths around his relationship with Oswald. My film Killing Oswald draws on these tapes but I couldn't find anyone in the research community or at the Oltmans archive in Holland who had a complete set of these recordings. After finally tracking down the full set, I'm releasing it today on Amazon, iTunes and Google Play, so de Mohrenschildt's take on Oswald is more widely available to researchers. There's a short teaser for the release here: vimeo.com/103542703 As a companion to these recordings, I would recommend The Faux Baron, two new volumes on de Mohrenschildt by Nancy Weiford, which include a chapter on these tapes. Best, Shane

For the month of August, catch Doug Horne's historic interview with Dino Brugioni for free in the 85-minute feature The Zapruder Film Mystery: http://vimeo.com/e2films/zapruder Whatever you feel about Zapruder Film alteration, Dino Brugioni's testimony about two NPIC events that weekend - presented here in HD video for the first time, thanks to Doug Horne and Peter Janney - is extremely important.