NEW YORK (AP) — Newly arrested WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange needs to “answer for what he has done,” Hillary Clinton said on Thursday.
The 2016 Democratic presidential nominee and former secretary of state weighed in on Assange while at a speaking event with her husband, former President Bill Clinton. Assange was arrested earlier Thursday at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, and the U.S. has charged him with conspiring with former Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to break into a classified government computer at the Pentagon.
WikiLeaks’ publication of Democratic emails stolen by Russian intelligence officers during the 2016 election season hurt Clinton’s presidential campaign. Donald Trump, Clinton’s Republican opponent, frequently showered praise on Assange during the final weeks of the campaign and cheered on the release of damaging emails from Clinton’s campaign manager, John Podesta.
Assange was arrested after Ecuador revoked the political asylum that had kept him holed up at the embassy for nearly seven years. The U.S. is seeking Assange’s extradition.
Clinton said Thursday, “The bottom line is that he has to answer for what he has done, at least as it has been charged.”
In a tongue-in-cheek nod to Trump’s hard-line immigration stance, Clinton added, “I do think it’s a little ironic that he’s the only foreigner this administration would welcome to the United States.”
Some articles on the AP feed are empty and should simply be ignored.
This was one of them.
Assange does have to answer for what he has been accused of. I do hope that US prosecutors will ignore the political pressure from Trump and John BARRon and charge Assange with crimes relating to the two indictments in which Wikileaks is prominently featured (GRU + Roger Stone).
Assange’s trial should be interesting. He should subpoena Trump as a character witness. And he should also claim some of what he did was at the public encouragement of the President. The President was talking to him, through his television.
October 10, 2016 in Wilkes-Barre, PA: “This just came out,” Trump said. “WikiLeaks, I love WikiLeaks.”
October 12, 2016 in Ocala, FL: “This WikiLeaks stuff is unbelievable,” Trump said. “It tells you the inner heart, you gotta read it.”
October 13, 2016 in Cincinnati, OH: “It’s been amazing what’s coming out on WikiLeaks.”
October 31, 2016 in Warren, MI: “Another one came in today,” Trump said. “This WikiLeaks is like a treasure trove.”
November 4, 2016 in Wilmington, OH: “Getting off the plane, they were just announcing new WikiLeaks, and I wanted to stay there, but I didn’t want to keep you waiting,” said Trump. “Boy, I love reading those WikiLeaks.”
I can’t believe I’m going to say this: This idiotic utterance by Hillary Clinton has finally made me start to think that she herself needs to answer for what she has done. Mock her up!
She was asked a stupid question and she gave an anodyne answer. Not her fault, really.
But the AP did not have to gin up an article out of it, nor did TPM have to pass it on.
Your comment is far more interesting and useful than the article that occasioned it!
(Not that this is a rare occurrence.)