In an appearance on Dutch TV, Assange flipped the script on accusations that WikiLeaks was working on behalf of Russian intelligence in going after Hillary Clinton. His response should be familiar to anybody who remembers the 1990s: Hey, maybe she had a guy killed!
TV host Eelco Bosch van Rosenthal asked: “The stuff that you’re sitting on, is an October Surprise in there?” “WikiLeaks never sits on material,” Assange insisted. (This despite the fact that he previously said, “We have more material related to the Hillary Clinton campaign.”)
But anyway. He continued, “Whistleblowers go to significant efforts to get us material, and often very significant risks. There’s a 27-year-old that works for the DNC who was shot in the back, murdered, just a few weeks ago, for unknown reasons as he was walking down the streets in Washington.”
Van Rosenthal interjected that the murder of DNC staffer Seth Rich was a robbery. After Assange dug in further, the host asked him what he was suggesting. “I’m suggesting that our sources take risks—and they become concerned to see things occurring like that,” Assange answered. He added that WikiLeaks is looking into this. The group has also posted a $20,000 reward for information leading to conviction for Rich’s murder.
As Jeet Heer pointed out yesterday, Assange has reportedly been having conversations with Trump associate Roger Stone, a dirty tricks specialist who is adept at presenting “information in the worst possible light.” Even if Stone isn’t involved, it sure resembles his work.