From what I can gather, this article is not completely accurate. On
Intercepted, Glen Greenwald talked about Assange and what he said was that
Assange does whatever he can to disrupt political systems and his contacts
with the Trump campaign fit with this goal. Also, what the author is
intimating about why the rape charges against Assange were dropped, is
untrue. And lastly, there are some people who do appear to continue to be
ardent supporters, among them, Richard Bernstein and Rick Credico. I have
looked, in vain, for supportive or explanatory articles on Consortium news,
however, without success.
Miriam
Alternet
Published on Alternet (https://www.alternet.org)
Home > 10 Things You Should Know About Julian Assange
10 Things You Should Know About Julian Assange
By Jefferson Morley [1] / AlterNet [2]
November 23, 2017, 6:02 AM GMT
Julian Assange, founder of Wikileaks, is more loved, and more hated, than
ever. And just who is doing the loving and the hating is more complicated
than ever.
In his rise from libertarian hacker to global publisher, Assange pioneered a
new kind of power [3], the power to disrupt the secrecy of the national
security state. With the help of Chelsea Manning, the silver-haired
Australian published the "Collateral Murder [4]" video, which showed the
world the reality of the war in Iraq, and the State Department cables [5],
which showed the realities of American diplomacy. So a lot of people admired
him.
Last week's disclosure that Assange collaborated [6] with Donald Trump Jr.
during the 2016 presidential campaign has generated another blizzard of
headlines-and a lot of confusion-about the world-famous transparency
advocate.
Here's what you need to know about Assange.
1. He's sitting on a pile of Bitcoin.
The Daily Beast reports [7] that Wikileaks "has received a total of 4,025
BTC through its public wallet address-roughly $29 million by current
exchange rates."
2. Assange was Twitter buddies with Donald Trump Jr. during the 2016
presidential campaign.
Wikileaks contacted Trump Jr. for the first time in September 2016 and
continued reaching out in Twitter messages until at least July 2017, the
Atlantic reported [8] last week.
After receiving a private message from @Wikileaks, an account presumably
controlled by Assange, Trump Jr. then emailed other senior officials from
the Trump campaign such as Steve Bannon and Kellyanne Conway, as well as
President Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner to notify them Wikileaks had
reached out.
On Oct. 12, 2016, the Wikileaks account again messaged Trump Jr.
"Hey Donald, great to see you and your dad talking about our publications."
(At a rally on October 10, Donald Trump had proclaimed [9], "I love
Wikileaks!")
Nine days later, the voice of Wikileaks made an offer.
"Hey Don. We have an unusual idea," Wikileaks wrote. "Leak us one or more of
your father's tax returns."
The New York Times had already published [10] a fragment of Trump's tax
returns on October 1.
"If we publish them it will dramatically improve the perception of our
impartiality," Assange's account continued. "That means that the vast amount
of stuff that we are publishing on Clinton will have much higher impact,
because it won't be perceived as coming from a 'pro-Trump' 'pro-Russia'
source."
Trump did not give his tax returns to Assange.
3. Jared Kushner's newspaper loved him.
TheNew York Observer, a weekly newspaper owned by the president's
son-in-law, published a long-running series of laudatory articles [11] about
Assange in 2015 and 2016, replete with exclusive details.
Duly appreciative, Wikileaks tweeted [12] some of the Observer's coverage,
including stories expressing doubt about the farfetched idea that the
Russians might have meddled in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
4. Sarah Palin is an Assange fan.
President Trump is not the only Wikileaks lover [9] on the right.
Earlier this year, Sarah Palin, the one-time conservative darling
marginalized by her dopey sound bites [13], her punch-drunk family [14] and
her bald-faced lies [15], fell hard for Assange. In a heartfelt Facebook
post [16], Palin praised Assange's anti-Clinton stance at Wikileaks and
apologized for once criticizing him.
5. The investigation of Assange for alleged sexual misconduct has been
discontinued.
Assange has not been charged with rape, as has often been reported. Two
women in Sweden alleged that Assange had molested and coerced [17] them in
sexual encounters.
One charge was dropped because the statute of limitations ran out. Last May,
Swedish authorities discontinued their investigation of the other charge,
citing the difficulty in obtaining Assange's testimony while he is holed up
in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London.
6. Once admired on the left, Assange has alienated many former allies.
For a long time, the Intercept and Glenn Greenwald took the lead in
defending Assange from his critics. No more. In a recent piece, Robert
Mackey wrote "We Knew Julian Assange Hated Clinton. We Didn't Know He Was
Secretly Advising Trump [18]."
In the piece, investigative reporter Barrett Brown blasted Assange. He
explained [19] he had defended Wikileaks for releasing emails hacked from
the Democratic National Committee, "because it was an appropriate thing for
a transparency org to do."
But in the messages with Trump Jr., he noted, Assange was "complaining about
'slander' of being pro-Trump IN THE ACTUAL COURSE OF COLLABORATING WITH
TRUMP."
"This latest revelation about the 2016 election has disappointed some
people," wrote TruthDig [20], which is an understatement. "Time will tell if
Assange and Wikileaks can regain the public's trust and be regarded as
impartial publishers."
7. Assange helped promote the bogus Seth Rich conspiracy theory.
In August 2016, Assange suggested during a television interview [21] that
his source for the DNC email might have been DNC staffer Seth Rich, who was
murdered in Washington 12 days before Wikileaks began publishing.
"We have to understand how high the stakes are in the United States, and
that our sources face serious risks," he said.
Assange offered a cash reward [3] for information leading to a conviction in
the murder-a gesture that sent alt-right sleuths, convinced that Clinton had
masterminded the killing, into a foolish frenzy. There was nothing to the
story, except that it caused a lot of unnecessary pain for Rich's grieving
family.
Even Fox News retracted [22] its conspiratorial allegations about Seth Rich.
Assange did not.
8. Assange promised to turn himself in if Chelsea Manning was freed-then
reneged.
If Obama grants Manning clemency Assange will agree to US extradition
despite clear unconstitutionality of DoJ case https://t.co/MZU30SlfGK [23]
- WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) January 12, 2017 [24]
But when President Obama commuted the remainder of Manning's sentence,
Assange back-pedaled [25]. He said he had only promised to surrender if
Manning was pardoned "immediately" and several months had passed. Obama, he
added, was just trying to "make life hard for him [26]."
9. Filmmaker Laura Poitras made two versions of 'Risk,' her documentary
about Assange. The first version was admiring, the second disenchanted.
"What specifically bred Poitras' distrust of Assange?" asked Slate [27].
"The sex charges; the Russia connection; his blooming paranoia; the sense,
gleaned from several in Assange's entourage (we see it on the faces of his
lawyers and advisers, as they try to debrief him on his legal and PR
troubles) that he's a narcissistic asshole. All of the above? "
10. Kate McKinnon plays him on Saturday Night Live.
In her latest skit, the comedian spoofs Assange [28] as a boy playing spy
games he barely understands. The chain-smoking Assange meets with Donald
Trump Jr. (Mikey Day) and brother Eric Trump (Alex Moffat) in a darkened
parking lot underneath the Ecuadorian Embassy. He wants to be a mastermind,
but the Trumps are not impressed.
"You look like Draco Malfoy," says Eric Trump [29].
"I'm not some dumb blonde you can take advantage of," says Assange.
Jefferson Morley is AlterNet's Washington correspondent. He is the author of
the forthcoming biography The Ghost: The Secret Life of CIA Spymaster James
Jesus Angleton [30] (St. Martin's Press, October 2017) and Snow-Storm in
August: Washington City, Francis Scott Key and the Forgotten Race Riot of
1835. [31]
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Report typos and corrections to 'corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx'. [32]
[33]
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Source URL:
https://www.alternet.org/10-things-you-should-know-about-julian-assange
Links:
[1] https://www.alternet.org/authors/jefferson-morley-2
[2] http://alternet.org
[3]
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/08/21/julian-assange-a-man-without-a
-country
[4] https://youtu.be/5rXPrfnU3G0
[5] https://search.wikileaks.org/plusd/
[6]
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/11/assange-claims-wikileak
s-was-trying-to-beguile-donald-trump-jr-into-leaking/545819/
[7] https://www.thedailybeast.com/free-press-group-set-to-cut-off-wikileaks
[8]
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/11/the-secret-corresponden
ce-between-donald-trump-jr-and-wikileaks/545738/
[9]
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/330052-wikileaks-reminds-tr
ump-of-time-he-said-i-love-wikileaks
[10]
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/02/us/politics/donald-trump-taxes.html?_r=0
[11]
http://foreignpolicy.com/2017/11/17/how-jared-kushners-newspaper-became-a-fa
vorite-outlet-for-wikileaks-election-hacks/
[12] https://twitter.com/wikileaks/status/824493474032611328
[13]
https://www.alternet.org/story/104034/the_11_dumbest_things_sarah_palin_has_
said_so_far
[14]
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2802290/palin-family-brawl-photos-gu
ests-open-wounds-raw-knuckles-blood-soaked-pavement-just-moments-family-got-
drunken-fight-alaskan-birthday-party.html
[15]
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2009/dec/18/politifact-lie-y
ear-death-panels/
[16] https://www.facebook.com/sarahpalin/posts/10154916952353588:0
[17]
https://www.alternet.org/Assange%2520was%2520een%2520not%2520bcharged%2520wi
th%2520rape%2520has%2520been%2520widely%2520reported.
[18]
https://theintercept.com/2017/11/15/wikileaks-julian-assange-donald-trump-jr
-hillary-clinton/
[19] https://twitter.com/BarrettBrown_/status/930194751890092032
[20]
https://www.truthdig.com/articles/can-ever-trust-julian-assange-wikileaks/
[21] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kp7FkLBRpKg
[22]
https://newrepublic.com/minutes/142854/fox-news-finally-retracted-seth-rich-
story-will-sean-hannity-follow-suit
[23] https://t.co/MZU30SlfGK
[24]
https://twitter.com/wikileaks/status/819630102787059713?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
[25]
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/jan/19/julian-assange-backpedals-o
n-extradition-offer-aft/
[26]
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/julian-assange
-barack-obama-pardon-chelsea-manning-to-make-life-hard-commute-sentence-wiki
leaks-us-a7542896.html
[27]
http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/movies/2017/05/laura_poitras_wikileaks_do
cumentary_risk_reviewed.html
[28]
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/snl-kate-mckinnon-adds-julian-assange-to-r
esume-meets-trump-sons-for-secretive-rendezvous/article/2641175
[29] https://www.youtube.com/snl
[30]
https://www.amazon.com/Ghost-Secret-Spymaster-James-Angleton/dp/1250080614/?
tag=alternorg08-20
[31]
http://amazon.com/Snow-Storm-August-Washington-Francis-Forgotten/dp/03855333
73/
[32] mailto:corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx?subject=Typo on 10 Things You Should
Know About Julian
Assange&body=URL:http://www.alternet.org/10-things-you-should-know-about-jul
ian-assange
[33] https://www.alternet.org/
[34] https://www.alternet.org/%2Bnew_src%2B
