Gorka points finger at The Swamp for Turnbull-Trump phone call leak
IT was the awkward post-election phone call that had the whole world talking. And now a former top Trump adviser who was in the Oval Office during the heated conversation between newly elected President Donald Trump and PM Malcolm Turnbull has revealed all on Miranda Live.
IT was the awkward post-election phone call that had the whole world talking. And now a former top Trump adviser who was in the Oval Office during the heated conversation between newly elected President Donald Trump and PM Malcolm Turnbull has revealed all on Miranda Live.
Former deputy assistant to the president and controversial political figure Sebastian Gorka sat down with Miranda Devine as part of her groundbreaking new online radio show, Miranda Live, tonight.
But he’s revealed The Donald only thinks fondly of Aussies, blaming disloyal elements inside the US government for leaking the awkward conversation transcript.
“Donald Trump is a straight shooter, that gels very nicely with the national spirit of the Australian people,” Mr Gorka said.
Mr Trump labelled Mr Turnbull’s immigration policies “worse” than his own hard line approach during the heated phone call in January, before dubbing a refugee deal “rotten” and “stupid”.
That transcript was leaked to the Washington Post, causing significant embarrassment, but the former Trump confidante told Devine the real issue was “The Swamp”.
“When people talk about The Swamp, they think Capitol Hill, the politicians — but my time in the White House led me to understand the more dangerous aspects of The Swamp was the bureaucrats ... so-called senior civil servants who think they can leak secrets to their friends in the media,” he said. “The Swamp is deep and full of alligators.”
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But the former intelligence analyst and Fox News pundit had a dire warning for Australia tonight: Stop worrying about North Korea, ISIS and Al-Qaeda and concentrate on the rising threat of China.
“You’re already seeing it in the past three years: China is expanding in this region, attempting to bully, cajole nations around it,” Mr Gorka told Devine.
“As far as I’m concerned today, the most significant threat to the United States at a strategic level — and to our allies such as Australia — is a rising China, the China that has a strategy to displace the West,” he said.
“They wish to become the Hegemonic power — economically, politically and militarily — by the 100th anniversary of the Communist revolution in 2049. And we cannot allow that to happen.”
He also used his chat with Devine to advocate a shift away from the focus Islamic terror groups such as ISIS.
“Suni terrorism such as Al-Queda and ISIS is what you’d call in the military, the 5m target — the close range target — and it will be dealt with. And we are crushing these groups in the Middle East,” he said.
“Far more dangerous is the Shia terrorism represented by the Republic of Iran. That’s the 1000m target.”
Mr Gorka, 47, left the White House in August this year, saying he would be better positioned to champion the “Make America Great” campaign from outside.
However his right wing commentary and love of guns has made him a controversial figure.
“The Second Amendment isn’t ultimately about stopping rapists or bank robbers. It’s about the people’s last line of defence against a strategic level threat. It’s not about hunting whitetails,” Gorka told Recoil, a magazine focused on guns.
He also revealed he had an extensive armoury, including pistols, AK and AR military rifles, SW 1917 and Webley 38 revolvers, and .22 calibre rifles, among others.