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Wikileaks Founder Julian Assange Accuses James Clapper Of Perjury During Russiagate Congressional Testimony

By Zachary Volkert
Published on: 09:59 PST, May 8, 2017

Confinement hasn’t stopped Wikileaks founder Julian Assange from adding his commentary to current events, including the testimony provided by former Director of National Intelligence (DNI) James Clapper to the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism on Monday.

The subcommittee is investigating charges that Russia interfered in the 2016 U.S. presidential election through a combination of hacking, cyber-campaigning to influence public opinion and possible collusion with the Donald Trump campaign. Around 20 agents were culled from the FBI, CIA and NSA to look into the matter, releasing a report on January 6, that indicated at least some these charges were true.

James said that the investigation has led him to believe that while the Russian government hacked both targets from the GOP and Democrats, it only released such data when it was related to the latter party. Clapper argued that this disparate treatment was part of a larger effort by Russian president Vladimir Putin to push Trump to victory over Hillary Clinton, reported Townhall.

“Russia also collected on certain Republican party affiliated targets, but did not release any Republican related data. The Intelligence Community Assessment concluded, first, that President Putin directed an influence campaign to erode the faith and confidence of the American people in our presidential election process. Second, that he did so to demean Secretary Clinton. And, third, that he sought to advantage Mr. Trump.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKFoYaFKxxg

Watching the trial unfold, Julian felt the need to pipe in about one particular claim made by James during his testimony. Despite what Clapper may have testified, at least one whistleblower platform did publish some Republican data during the 2016 presidential campaign. After linking to an example, Assange suggested that Clapper may have committed perjury.

Wikileaks has repeatedly been accused of being, at least, an unwitting partner in the Russian campaign to influence the election by several high-ranking members of the U.S. government. Julian Assange shared a video shortly after his accusation against James Clapper, which pulled together clips of several other officials insinuating that Wikileaks may have been a Russian actor.

Julian has repeatedly denied that any of the documents that Wikileaks published during the 2016 presidential election season originated from the Russian government. Assange reasserted this view during an interview with Amy Goodman of Democracy Now! late last month.

The site that Julian linked to in order to refute James Clapper is not, at least directly, a part of Wikileaks, but rather a separate entity called DC Leaks. The site is a publisher of secret U.S. government and military documents that launched in June 2016.

Though the group itself claims to be all American, both independent and official investigations allege it contains hallmarks of the Russian Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) hacker group Fancy Bear and notable Russian hacker Guccifer 2.0. The files linked to by Assange are from an August 2016 publication of the internal communications of Arizona Senator John McCain, South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, and former Minnesota Representative Michele Bachmann.

Assange has been granted asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy in London since June 2012. [Image by Oli Scarff/Getty Images]

Unsurprisingly, Julian and the rest of Wikileaks have had an extremely acrimonious relationship with U.S. intelligence agencies. It also doesn’t appear likely to change, despite the fact that President Trump benefited from its publication of Clinton’s emails during the campaign. Current C.I.A. director Mike Pompeo recently said that Assange did not retain any rights to free speech as he was not an American citizen, as previously reported by the Inquisitr.

“Julian Assange has no First Amendment freedoms. He’s sitting in an Embassy in London. He’s not a US citizen.”

Wikileaks and Julian Assange have been adversaries of every U.S. administration since George W. Bush. [Image by Oli Scarff/Getty Images]

The comment was made in response to an editorial that Julian has written in the Washington Post, where Assange argued that Wikileaks had always published within the guidelines of the U.S. Constitution, just like any other respectable media platform.

“Quite simply, our motive is identical to that claimed by the New York Times and The Post — to publish newsworthy content. Consistent with the U.S. Constitution, we publish material that we can confirm to be true irrespective of whether sources came by that truth legally or have the right to release it to the media. And we strive to mitigate legitimate concerns, for example by using redaction to protect the identities of at-risk intelligence agents.”

The newly elected president also appears to have invoked the ire of Julian. In an editorial, Assange said that the government’s re-opening of a probe into Wikileaks was a “war on free speech,” reporting Washington Times.

Do you think the document Wikileaks founder Julian Assange linked to proves that James Clapper committed perjury, or lied under oath, during the Russiagate congressional hearing?

[Featured Image by Alex Wong/Getty Images]

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