Assange: ‘We’re Working On’ Accessing Trump’s Taxes, ‘Conflation’ Between DNC Leaks and Hacks of DNC By Possible State Actors

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Ian Hanchett

UPDATE: Wikileaks tweeted that they weren’t working on hacking Trump’s taxes, but they were working on “encouraging whistleblowers.”

On Friday’s broadcast of HBO’s “Real Time,” Wikileaks Founder and Editor-in-Chief Julian Assange responded to a question on whether he was working with Russia to make Democratic presidential nominee former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton by saying there was a “conflation” between Wikileaks’ publication of the DNC leaks and hacks done by others, including possible state actors and that he is “working on” getting Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s tax returns.

Assange was asked by host Bill Maher, “Why haven’t we seen anything hacked from the Trump campaign? I mean, obviously we know these came from Russia, and we also know that you do not like Hillary Clinton at all, as does not Vladimir Putin. So it looks like you are working with a bad actor, Russia, to put your thumb on the scale, and basically f*ck with the one person who stands in the way of us being ruled by Donald Trump.”

After pointing out that Maher gave a “Clinton-affiliated entity” $1 million, talking about the privacy and concerns over the DNC leaks, and defending the accuracy of the leaked materials, Assange stated, “What there is, is a conflation between our publications, DNC leaks, and an extensive variety of hacks of the DNC, and frankly, other organizations, over the last two years, possibly by state actors, that wouldn’t be at all surprising, but also a number of others. DNI Clapper, the head of all US intelligence agencies, James Clapper said last Friday that the media was hyperventilating. They couldn’t make an attribution, let alone as to motivation. And even that was just about the hacks. It’s not about the material we released, but we know the source of the material, right? Everyone knows the source of what we published. The source is, the Democratic Party.”

He was later asked, “OK, why don’t you hack into Donald Trump’s tax returns?” Assange responded, “Well, we’re working on it.”

Assange later added, “[F]rom the perspective of Wikileaks trying to protect its sources, you have really, two very bad presidential candidates.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett

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