Tag: Julian Assange

Trump in 2016: ‘I love WikiLeaks,’ Trump now: ‘I know nothing about WikiLeaks’

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President Donald Trump, when asked if he still “loves” WikiLeaks as he said in 2016, told reporters in the Oval Office that he knows “nothing about WikiLeaks.””

I know nothing about WikiLeaks. It’s not my thing and I know there is something having to do with Julian Assange. I’ve been seeing what’s happened with Assange,” Trump told reporters while meeting with South Korean President Moon Jae-in, referring to the arrest of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.Assange was arrested Thursday morning in London after Ecuador revoked his diplomatic asylum claim. He has been charged with helping the former Army intelligence specialist Chelsea Manning access Defense Department computers in 2010 in an effort to disclose secret government documents, the US Justice Department announced Thursday morning, hours after Assange was forcibly removed by authorities from the Ecuadoran embassy in London.

Trump on Thursday repeatedly denied knowledge about WikiLeaks and Assange. But, in fact, Trump has a history of supporting WikiLeaks, saying at one rally in 2016: “WikiLeaks, I love WikiLeaks.”During the campaign, Trump routinely applauded WikiLeaks for its role in disseminating the contents of internal communications stolen from the Democratic National Committee and Clinton campaign. He even publicly encouraged the Russians “to find the 30,000 emails (from Hillary Clinton’s server) that are missing.”Still, Trump said Thursday he knows “nothing” about Assange or WikiLeaks.”

I know nothing about WikiLeaks. It’s not my thing and I know there is something having to do with Julian Assange,” he said. “I’ve been seeing what’s happened with Assange, and that will be a determination. I would imagine mostly by the attorney general, who is doing an excellent job. So he’ll be making a determination. I know nothing really about him. That’s not my deal in life.””

I don’t really have an opinion,” Trump asked when reporters continued to ask questions.

[CNN]

Reality

Donald Trump praised WikiLeaks 141 times in the one month before the 2016 election.

Trump Confidant Roger Stone Admits WikiLeaks Collusion, Then Deletes It

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Former Trump campaign advisor Roger Stone admitted that he had a “perfectly legal back channel” to Wikileaks founder Julian Assange.

The Huffington Post reports that Stone, a close friend of President Donald Trump tweeted the statement, then deleted it on Saturday.

Stone denied having direct contact with Assange but said in October that he and Assange “have a good mutual friend”.

He even tweeted this tweet about Hillary Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta before the Wikileaks emails were released.

Stone’s admission of a link between himself and Assange comes at a time when allegations against him and the Trump administration having ties with Russia are being investigated.

In an interview with CBS, Stone said this about an investigation into his ties with Russia

“Sure, they’ll get my grocery lists. “They may get the emails between my wife and I, but here’s what they won’t get ― any contact with the Russians.”

He calls the investigation into his alleged ties with Russia a “witch hunt”. Something President Trump, himself has said in a tweet about the Russian investigation.

(h/t AOL)

Trump Cites Julian Assange As Proof That Russia Didn’t Hack Democrats

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Citing recent statements from embattled WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, President-elect Donald Trump is continuing to dispute US intelligence reports that Russia strategically hacked and leaked internal emails from top Democratic sources.

On Wednesday, the president-elect blasted out a series of tweets quoting Assange’s Tuesday-night interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity, a major Trump supporter, in which the WikiLeaks founder parroted much of Trump’s rhetoric criticizing media outlets.

“Julian Assange said ‘a 14 year old could have hacked Podesta’ — why was DNC so careless? Also said Russians did not give him the info!” Trump tweeted.

The president-elect then blamed the Democratic National Committee for failing to block hackers and claimed that the DNC had not addressed the content of some leaked emails, though several top figures at the organization resigned after emails emerged showing several offering criticism of Sen. Bernie Sanders, who was running against Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primaries.

Since reports emerged that intelligence agencies found substantial evidence that Russia meddled in the US election, Trump has steadfastly continued to cast doubt over the credibility of US intelligence officials on the subject.

The comments came just hours after Trump mocked US intelligence agencies, which he said postponed a private intelligence briefing now scheduled for Friday on the subject of the Russian hacks.

While Trump offered some of the highest-profile affirmation of Assange’s worldview, other American lawmakers continue to slam the WikiLeaks founder.

Speaking with radio host Hugh Hewitt on Wednesday, House Speaker Paul Ryan dismissed Trump’s tweets but called Assange a “syncophant for Russia,” a likely allusion to Assange’s dismissal of WikiLeaks’ need to find and distribute internal Russian communications.

President Barack Obama continues to ramp up pressure on Russia in the waning days of his administration.

Last week, Obama issued new sanctions on two Russian intelligence agencies and booted numerous diplomats and their families from the US.

(h/t Business Insider)

Reality

Trump is using Julian Assange’s statements that the Podesta emails sent to WikiLeaks were not from the Russian government as his only source of evidence to dispute the consensus among the 17 government intelligence agencies who say it was in-fact Russia with Putin’s knowledge.

However in Julian Assange’s own explanation of how WikiLeaks works, as in this TED talk, it is technically impossible for him to know who the source is. The anonymity of the source of a leak is the primary feature to the technology behind WikiLeaks, and what makes it so popular with whistle-blowers.

So if this is Trump’s only evidence, it’s total bunk.