The Plot to Kill Jimmy Carter

"Jimmy Carter is an innocent"

- Former Vice President Walter Mondale, 

in conversation with Seymour Hersch, 2009

"...And that's when I found out that I had been selected to assassinate Jimmy Carter." from Spike1138 on Vimeo.

By Jim Marrs

"Toward mid-1979, President Carter was being chastised by critics within the media, as well as by the Republicans, as being wishy-washy on a variety of issues. They said his was a mediocre presidency. The mass media were already focusing on conservative California Gov. Ronald Reagan as the man of the hour. His nomination as GOP presidential candidate for the 1980 election seemed assured.

Carter asked for and was granted a national television spot during prime time and many media pundits predicted that he was about to announce sweeping changes in government as well as new initiatives which would move his upcoming presidential re-election campaign off high center.

But before his televised appearance, Carter journeyed to California where he was to address a Hispanic crowd in Los Angeles.s Civic Center Mall celebrating Cinco de Mayo, the Mexican Independence Day.

A few days later, a handful of newspapers carried a small story stating that a "grubby transient" had been arrested there and was being held on suspicion of the attempted assassination of the president. A Secret Service spokesman downplayed the arrest stating the incident was about as "nothing as these things get."

However, a few days later, another news item appeared which reported that the 35-year-old Anglo suspect was being held in lieu of $50,000 on charges of conspiring to kill the president.

Finally, a one-time story in the May 21, 1979, edition of Newsweek revealed more details of the incident.

It seems that the suspect was arrested after Secret Service agents noticed him "looking nervous." A .22-calibre, eight-shot revolver was found on the man along with 70 rounds of blank ammunition. A short time later, the suspect implicated a second man, a 21-year-old Hispanic who also was taken into custody and subsequently held in lieu of $100,000 bail.

The second suspect at first denied knowing the other man, but finally admitted that the pair had test fired the blank starter pistol from a nearby hotel roof the night before Carter.s appearance. Both men said they were simply local street people who had been hired by two Mexican hit men. They were to create a diversion with the blank pistol and the two hit men were to assassinate President Carter with high-powered rifles.

Lending credence to their story, both suspects led authorities to the shabby Alan Hotel located near the civic center. Here investigators found an empty rifle case and three rounds of live ammunition in a room rented under than name Umberto Camacho. Camacho apparently had checked out the day of Carter.s visit. No further trace of the hit men could be found.

The Anglo suspect was Raymond Lee Harvey and his Hispanic companion was Osvaldo Ortiz. This oddity of their names prompted Newsweek reporters to state, "References to Lee Harvey Oswald and the assassination of President John F. Kennedy were unavoidable."

"But it was still far from clear whether the authorities had a real conspiracy or a wild goose chase on their hands," they added.

No further news stories appeared and the disposition of the case against Lee Harvey and Osvaldo apparently has never been made public.

What did happen was that President Carter canceled his national TV speech and went into seclusion at Camp David, MD. 

After seeking advice from a lengthy line of consultants, including the Rev. Billy Graham, Carter was reported to have said, 
"I have lost control of the government." 

New York Times:

Article Preview
Reported Carter-Assassination Plot Given Credibility by New Evidence; Arrest Despite Disbelief
SIGN IN TO E-MAIL
PERMISSIONS
[ DISPLAYING ABSTRACT ]

LOS ANGELES, May 11 (UPI)--Investigators have found evidence, including a gun case, ammunition and corroborative testimony, that adds credibility to a reported plot to assassinate President Carter, originally dismissed as a tale spun by an intoxicated man.


TIME Magazine

Nation: Skid Row Plot

Monday, May 21, 1979

Skid Row Plot A scheme to kill Carter?

The man clearly was unstrung. He had a history of mental illness. He also bore an eerily resonant name for a person claiming to be part of a four-man plot to assassinate a President: Raymond Lee Harvey. At first, it all seemed too weird to be taken seriously.

Unemployed and a drifter, the Ohio-born Harvey, 35, claimed to have met three men with Latin names in downtown Los Angeles two weeks ago. On May 4 he was with the three in a third-floor room of the skid row...



Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,920351,00.html#ixzz2JtL7mZyJ

National Affairs
Newsweek
5/21/79, p. (34 or 54)

At first it seemed just a bum’s boozy fantasy. When a grubby transient named Raymond Lee Harvey was arrested 50 feet away from Jimmy Carter at a Los Angeles rally two weekends ago, he claimed to be part of a four-man conspiracy to assassinate Carter. Harvey carried only a blank-firing starter’s pistol, and the Secret Service said at the time that he had “all the characteristics of a derelict.” But investigators found new evidence last week that supported Harvey’s story—including a shotgun case and ammunition in a nearby hotel room—and once again raised the specter of a Presidential assassination plot.

The case is as bizarre and confusing as it is potentially serious. One curious twist is the names of the principals. Raymond Lee Harvey, who was held on $50,000 bail last week on a charge of conspiring to kill the President, and Oswaldo Espinoza Ortiz, who was held on $100,000 bail as a material witness. References to Lee Harvey Oswald and the assassination of John F. Kennedy were unavoidable. Officials have also indicated that Harvey has a history of mental illness. Both Harvey and Espinoza now claim that Harvey was supposed to create a diversion by firing his starter’s pistol while two other men attempted to shoot Carter. But investigators say they have no clues to the whereabouts of the alleged accomplices and are not even certain of their identities. Accordingly, the authorities have been careful to stress their doubts about the case.

The mystery began when Harvey, 35, was arrested at the downtown Los Angeles Civic Center Mall just ten minutes before Carter was to speak at a Cinco de Mayo Mexican festival. Secret Service agents said they spotted him in the crowd “looking nervous,” searched him and found the 22-caliber, eight-shot revolver and 70 unspent blank cartridges. Espinoza, 21, who had been standing nearby, was taken into custody shortly afterward. According to government affidavits, Espinoza initially denied knowing Harvey but later corroborated his story that the two of them had gone to the roof of the shabby Alan Hotel near the Civic Center and test-fired the starter’s pistol on the night before Carter’s appearance. The plot, they said, was hatched along with two other men, both Mexican, who had rifles and were living in the hotel.

Checking out the story, police found an empty shotgun case and three rounds of live ammunition in a room that had been rented by a man named Umberto Camacho—who had checked out on the day of Carter’s visit.

TAKING IT SERIOUSLY: Assistant U.S. Attorney Donald Etra was expected to make a decision on the case this week. “Unless it’s clear that the defendant has committed the crime with which he is charged, we’re not going to present the case to a grand jury,” he said. The FBI, meanwhile, continued its investigation—trying to find Camacho and the unnamed fourth alleged conspirator.

“Any time there’s a threat against a President or a possible (plot) against the President, we’re going to take it seriously,” (said) FBI spokesman (Sam) Shed. But it was still far from clear whether the authorities had a real conspiracy or a wild goose chase on their hands.

DENNIS WILLIAMS and
STRYKER McGUIRE, Los Angeles

Gary Sick - October Surprise Congressional Testimony, November 22nd 1991 from Paul Coker on Vimeo.

"...if the United States ever experiences an attempt at a coup to overthrow the Government, it will come

from the CIA..."

President John F. Kennedy, October 2nd, 1963