Julian Assange In Leaked Emails Interview, Declares ‘Russian Government Is Not The Source’
If anyone is still in doubt as to the source of Hillary Clinton’s leaked e-mails, in a new interview Julian Assange has just gone on record stating unequivocally that the Russian government had absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with leaking the information to WikiLeaks. Most of us knew this already, of course, but it never hurts to point out the obvious, especially when there is a very real and public witch hunt going on.
Up until now, Assange has been staying silent on the subject, no doubt partly because the Ecuadorian Embassy have killed his internet connection in London, and it’s a bit difficult to speak, but also because he may not have felt it necessary to discuss the leaked e-mails when the contents should speak for themselves.
But after much deliberation, Julian Assange has decided to grant a new interview and has released a public statement about the source of these leaked e-mails. He explains that it’s one thing to stay silent while public discourse over the contents of these e-mails is happening, but another thing entirely when the discussion is focused almost completely on who leaked the source material rather than the material itself.
“Saying nothing leads to a vacuum into which false claims about our sources can be projected. We tolerate such claims until they are used to distract from the publication. After careful consideration of the source protection requirements involved, we are confident that eliminating state parties does not appreciably increase the risks to our sources for this publication.”
Julian Assange is right, of course. Rather than choosing to focus on the details Clinton’s leaked e-mails and inviting discussion, the Western media has largely been playing a game of bait and switch and devoting their time on the whole to debating where the material came from. This distraction must prove particularly vexing to Assange, who has been walking the plank of individuality his whole life and who has dedicated his entire career to seeking truth in all things and seeing the bigger picture in everything around him. Not long ago, we were all very worried about him as Julian had disappeared completely and there were fears of his death or extradition all over the internet. He is thankfully safe and, happily for us, continuing his good work.
In Assange’s exclusive 25 minute interview with veteran Australian journalist John Pilger, which is to be aired Saturday, November 5 on RT, Julian discussed the leaked e-mail scandal at length.
“The Clinton camp has been able to project a neo-McCarthyist hysteria that Russia is responsible for everything. Hillary Clinton has stated multiple times, falsely, that 17 US intelligence agencies had assessed that Russia was the source of our publications. That’s false. We can say that the Russian government is not the source.”
ED: Assange interview was not with RT. The interview was for the UK. Dartmouth Films then sold to broadcasters outside the UK, including RT.
— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) November 3, 2016
Those of us who have been following his work with WikiLeaks closely throughout the years are very excited over the video teasers for Julian Assange’s new interview. And with the presidential election so close, Julian and John Pilger couldn’t have timed things more beautifully or perfectly.
Wikileaks has now uploaded over 30,000 e-mails from the private server of Hillary Clinton from when she was Secretary of State. Hot on the tail of these were 20,000 e-mails that involved the US Democratic National Committee and included e-mails sent by them as well as to them.
Particularly surprising was how Bernie Sanders was treated in these leaked e-mails. With Bernie garnering an astonishingly high level of popular support from Americans, it was rather disconcerting for us to read of how he was treated by other Democrats and the insolent attitude that they displayed towards him.
Most recently, of course, we have seen 50,000 e-mails linked to John Podesta, Bill Clinton’s former chief of staff.
In this interview with Julian Assange, he speaks frankly and openly about his feelings for Hillary Clinton and says that he actually feels sorry for her.
“Hillary Clinton is just one person. I actually feel quite sorry for Hillary Clinton as a person, because I see someone who is eaten alive by their ambitions, tormented literally to the point where they become sick – for example, faint – as a result of going on, and going with their ambitions. But she represents a whole network of people, and a whole network of relationships with particular states.”
So while the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Department of Homeland Security have both said they were “confident” of the Clinton e-mail leak coming from Russia, Julian Assange once again asserts in this exclusive interview that Russia was not the source of these e-mails. But it is very convenient for the press to point the finger at them, especially now, is it not?
What are your thoughts on Julian Assange and these leaked e-mails? Do you think more attention and focus should be given to the contents and the hysteria over the source of them should end?
[Featured Image by Oli Scarff/Getty Images]